


A Second Chance...

by Storywriter254



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: Confrontations, Drama, F/M, Humor, Love Triangles, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-09-22 23:11:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17068979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storywriter254/pseuds/Storywriter254
Summary: Set at Season 5. Ross leaves New York after his second divorce and his eviction for San Diego. He hopes to find a new life with a new job in a new city. 6 months later, he comes for a visit. Little does he know, someone he knows very well is waiting for him. Someone he wasn't expecting to see again. She wants to give what they had another go. Will he accept?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Friends.

Ross Geller packed his things as he was ready to go to San Diego. He had been given 2 job offers: A Paleontologist at one of the most popular museums in California and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of San Diego. He would be getting at least double of what he’s being paid now. He didn’t really want to have to accept it but at this point, he didn’t have a choice. After leaving one apartment to be in another, getting evicted by that apartment and being rejected by a complex for a studio apartment over a bad application (He still didn’t know what the problem was), he gained a bit of a reputation in the Hospitality industry around town. If that wasn’t bad enough, he was still recovering from his divorce and everything around him reminded him of his ex-wife, Emily Waltham. He needed to get out of here. He couldn’t keep torturing himself and making himself believe he was happy.

Ross’ sister, Monica Geller, was helping him pack. A psychologist was not needed to know that Monica was not happy about this. She had pleaded, begged for him to stay but his reply is always the same.

_“Monica…..I can’t take this anymore….I’m not happy here anymore. My life is falling apart”_

At that point, she had officially began hating Emily Waltham. She had wanted to sympathize with her. After all, it wasn’t easy calling out someone else’s name when taking vows but this just drew the line with her. Because of one slip up, she had made his life a living hell and there wasn’t anyone who could pick up the pieces…..or at least that’s what she thought.

As for the others, they didn’t take it so well either. Joey and Chandler blamed themselves for going overboard with Ross being their roommate. If they had only been honest with him, maybe he would be staying but of course but they just had to be their usual dumb selves. They wanted to tell him but they couldn’t bring themselves to do it. They didn’t want to leave on bad terms and they both agreed this was more Emily’s fault than theirs.

Phoebe blamed herself as well. If she had tried harder at getting the others to stop Rachel from ruining Ross’ wedding, maybe he wouldn’t be in this situation.

However, there were no other people in the particular group that blamed themselves more than Ms. Rachel Greene.

She was devastated by the news. She had tried to cover it up by simply playing the ‘I’m sad but happy for you’ card but it didn’t do her much good. Everyone could tell she was the saddest one of the bunch. If she had simply listened to Phoebe when she said it was too late then maybe Ross wouldn’t be packing his bags and moving 3,000 miles away.

Like Monica, the group developed a newfound hatred for Emily Waltham. Before she came into their lives, they were one big, happy, goofy family. Now everything was changing. Some of it for the worst.

The night before the moving, Monica had wanted one last get together with the friends all in one place to ‘celebrate’ Ross’ leaving but in secret, they were all sad about the news. Even Carol and Susan came with Ben. Ross was touched by the gesture but kept quiet for most of the dinner.

Chandler got up and tapped his glass. 

“Sorry but I just wanted to say something about our guest of honor here” Chandler said.

Everyone looked to him as he suddenly looked nervous. He never was a public speaker. Ross’ wedding rehearsal showed that much but he decided to say something anyway.

“I’ve known Ross for about half my life and I can say that while I am sad he is leaving, I have never been more proud of him. He was always the smart one, the clever one, sometimes the geekiest” Chandler said.

The whole table chuckled. Even Ross let out a small smile.

“I’ve never had any doubt that he would go on to do great things. Things that could probably change this world’s view as we know it. I thank you, Ross Geller for your friendship, for your encouragement, for your wit, for your wisdom, for everything…..you’re the best man I ever knew” Chandler said.

Ross gave a smile. He got up and gave Chandler a big hug. Soon, Monica joined. Then Joey, then Phoebe and finally Rachel. The family of 6 were spending one last night together for a while.

When they separated, Carol and Susan went and gave Ross a hug of their own.

“I’m very proud of you, Ross” Carol said.

“Thank you, Carol. I really appreciate you and Susan coming along tonight. You don’t know how much that means to me” Ross said.

“It’s our pleasure, Ross. Besides, you couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Ben” Carol said.

“Of course not” Ross said. He picked up Ben.

“How are you today, my little man?” Ross asked.

“Daddy” Ben said in his baby voice.

“That’s right, Ben. Now, when you were born, I told you there were going to be times when I had to leave you and this is one of those times but like I said, I’ll always come back. Just hang in there” Ross said.

He gave Ben a big kiss on the head. The 30 year old man turned to Susan.

“Hello, Susan. Thank you for coming” Ross said.

“I’m happy to be here, Ross. I’m really sorry about Emily” Susan said.

Ross had to admit, that was a chink in his armor of self-respect. 

“It’s alright…..I’ll get over it eventually” Ross said.

“Well, if you ask me, she didn’t deserve a sweet, loving man like you if something so stupid could drive her away like that” Carol said.

Ross chuckled. “Well, I appreciate that Carol. Very much”

Carol gave Ross a kiss on cheek. “Anytime. Just remember, we’ll always be here for you”

He placed Ben down back in his seat before tapping his nose.

After the dinner ended, Carol and Susan had to take Ben home for bed but Ross promised he’d be back whenever he could.

“Can you be more specific or are you like Frosty the Snowman who only comes back once a year?” Joey asked.

Ross chuckled. “Well, it’ll be sooner than that. I promise all of you that. I’ll try for a weekend a month and whenever I can manage, maybe even a week”

“Good. New York won’t be the same without you, pal” Chandler said, slapping him on the shoulder.

“No….no it won’t” Rachel said. 

Rachel, like Ross, hadn’t said much this whole entire night which was funny in and of itself because it was Rachel. She always had a story to tell.

“Well hurry back or your first night back, I’ll chop your dick off, cook it and serve it to some stray dog” Monica said.

Ross laughed as he hugged Monica and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as possible, Mon”

There was a part about that statement that scared him, though. He never knew whether or not Monica was serious about her mostly empty threats or not.

He turned to Phoebe and hugged her. “Be sure to tell me stories about those nieces and nephew of yours, aunt Phoebe”

“Well I’ll try but I don’t know if it will be much. Babies are boring when you realize they don’t do much” Phoebe said.

Ross chuckled. “Believe me, they’re more work than you think, Pheebs”

Phoebe shrugged as she hugged Ross who gave her a hug back. Finally, he turned to Rachel. He gave her a small smile.

Rachel gave a smile back. Ross opened his arms and engulfed Rachel in a deep hug.

“I’ll miss you, Rach” Ross said.

“I’ll miss you too Ross……..you know…..I still love you” Rachel whispered.

Ross’ temperature dropped slightly. He had been told this once after they had gotten back from London and he didn’t know what to do with that because he was married. Now he wasn’t married but was leaving for a new job where he would very busy.

“Rachel…...I…..I love you too…..but…..I can’t handle a relationship right now. Every time I get in a relationship, I get slapped in the face by reality that I’m just not meant for them” Ross whispered back.

Rachel looked down his shoulder. She was saddened by his statement but she understood it.

“I understand….but I’m willing to give us another go if you feel up to it. No conditions, admittance of guilt or anything” Rachel whispered.

“I appreciate that, Rach….I’ll think about it” Ross said.

They parted, not before Rachel gave Ross a big kiss on the cheek.

He smiled and kissed her on the cheek back.

“Well….I guess that’s everything that needed to be said” Ross said.

“Any chance for a last minute change of your mind? I can make you brownies” Monica asked.  
“I’m afraid not, Monica” Ross said.

“Well….just remember...you’re always welcome here if you ever want to come back for however long you want….just as long as you don’t hog the bathroom” Monica said.

“I do not hog the bathroom” Ross said, rolling his eyes.

“Because this is your party, I won’t argue with you even though you’re wrong….just hurry back” Monica said.

After one last hug with her brother, Ross gave the group one last look and nodded. 

It was then, he left the room. And then there were 5…..and there was going to only be 5 for quite some time….

* * *

_*6 months later*_

Monica Geller was a very happy 28 year old woman. Her brother, Ross Geller, was coming home this week for an entire week and she was cooking his favorite dinner. Everyone was there. The group, Carol, Susan, Ben and Ross’ Parents.

A banner was being held above the entertainment center, saying “Welcome home, Ross!” balloons and streamers were all across the room.

Though this was the most excited everyone had been over Ross’ return, this wasn’t the first time. He had kept his promise and came home once a month for a weekend. He’d sometimes bring back assignments to grade or projects to work on but overall, he was a delight to be around and every time, he looked better than he had before. He was dressing up in nice suits, wore Rolex watches, he was growing a goatee, his hair was longer and slicker, he even had more body strength. Most importantly, he was happier. It seemed California had done him a bit of good.

Rachel noticed how attractive he was getting. She had dated men like Chip Matthews and Paolo who were attractive in their own rights but Ross was attractive both physically and mentally. He was becoming quite the full package.

Joey and Chandler were going to go full on guys night with Ross. They were going to go to bars, strip clubs, watch football games, play video games, everything they used to do when he was here and they were all going to enjoy it too. They may even convince him to move back.

Speaking of Chandler, his relationship with Monica was blooming. If there was one good thing that came out of that horrid trip to London, it was the finding of his new long-term girlfriend, Monica. While they did quarrel, they actually loved each other and they were going to drop the ball on Ross tonight. Hopefully, he would be happy for them and he wouldn’t play the big brother role. They were getting a touch too old for that.

Phoebe was having a marvelous time with her nieces and nephew. Frank and Alice’s 3 babies: Frank Jr. Jr., Leslie and Chandler……...there was little doubt among the group that the last baby would one day change her name.

As for Rachel, she was going to tell Ross that she wanted him back and that nothing was going to stop her from being with him, not even Ross Geller himself. This was going to be a perfect night.

“This is so exciting. It’s been months since I’ve seen Ross” Judy said.

“We’re very proud of him. We knew he was going to turn out great” Jack said.

“....You know, dad….I’m a head chef” Monica said.

“Huh? Oh that’s great, honey. Make sure you don’t overcook the chicken. Ross hates it tough” Jack said.

Monica took a deep breath. Thank god she didn’t have a knife on her at the present time or there was going to be cutting involved.

There was suddenly a knock on the door. Chandler turned to the group and mouthed “It’s him” very excitedly. Finally, his best buddy was home for a full 9 days.

After opening the door, he and the others yelled “Surprise! Welcome home!”

However, it was clear they didn’t even know who they were shouting too because as soon as they stopped shouting and took a good look at who was here, their minds went blank.

It was Ross’ former bride: Emily Waltham.

No one said anything for the longest time. It was like something they’d seen out of a soap opera. Finally….Emily said something.

“Well I appreciate the gesture but I’m looking for Ross….I want to speak to him” Emily said.

It had been 6 months since anyone has heard anything from Emily. It was pretty amazing. They thought they would never see her again.

“....He’s not here” Monica said.

“Well, I can see that but I would like to know where he is” Emily said.

“I’m sorry, aren’t you getting married soon?” Chandler asked.

Indeed, somehow, Ross heard from Emily’s cousin (his former landlord) that Emily was getting married again. He guessed it was supposed to be a sort of smug slap in the face to try to make Ross feel bad about himself. The group guessed it worked a little or else Ross wouldn’t have mentioned a word.

“Well….I was….but not anymore” Emily said.

“Why do you want to see Ross?” Joey asked.

“I….I have to tell him something” Emily said. She was sensing this was gaining some tension between the group and her.

“Oh, really? Tell him what? About how unfaithful he is or about how he’s a scumbag or anything else to dampen his spirit?” Monica asked with a hint of grudge in her voice.

Emily twitched. “No. Nothing like that”

“Then what? You’ll take him back but only if he chops off his right arm and gets a new one because they came in contact with Rachel?” Chandler asked, an angry look on his face.

“No. Not that either. Listen, I realize this is an extremely awkward situation and I know you all must really hate me but….I just want to speak with him for just one moment” Emily said.

“Well, I’m sorry to say but Ross no longer lives in New York. He moved” Chandler said.

“He had to move after your cousin evicted him from the apartment you made him move into” Monica said.

“Yes, I heard about that. Believe me, I had nothing to do with that. I gave him a stern talking too after he did that” Emily said.

“He was still thrown out in the street even after your stern talking too” Monica said.  
“Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t have anything to do with that. I tried to get him to change his mind but he just wouldn’t. He just wouldn’t listen to me” Emily said.

“Well if you had never wanted it to happen, a good thing to have done is to not have him move, make him sell all his things and not allow him to see one of his best friends to begin with” Monica said.

“Well you don’t understand. I was upset. I was humiliated in front of my friends and family, I wasn’t thinking clearly” Emily said.

“You know, I tried to understand things from your perspective but no matter how bad one night for you was, that gives you no right to make another person’s life a living hell” Monica said.

“Do you know how awful he felt when he came home from London, thinking you didn’t love him anymore? He spent countless nights trying to get a hold of you and sending you gifts only to have you spit in his face” Joey said.

“I understand that now. I know I’ve done bad things in the past but I’m telling you, I’m not that person anymore. I don’t want him to meet any conditions anymore, I don’t want to make him do things he doesn’t want to do, I don’t want him to jump off a cliff for me….I just…..” Emily said, not finishing her answer.

“You just what?” Monica asked.

“.....I just want him” Emily said, tears forming in her eyes.

Everyone looked at her. They still had looks of anger on their faces, unable to forget the dread they had put their best friend through.

“Well that ship has set and sailed. You were the one that ended the marriage and decided to go off and start a new one” Chandler said.

“Well, Chandler, I’m sorry but I wasn’t asking your permission to see him. I’m going to see him. Whether you choose to let me in or not, it’s quite clear he’s coming here from wherever he lives now. I’m either going to wait for him in here or wait for him out there but just note that I’m at better advantage out there then in here” Emily said.

Chandler looked at Emily. He sighed and turned to Monica and shrugged.

Monica rolled her eyes and gave a signal to let Emily in.

Emily came in and looked around. Everyone she knew here was here. She turned to Mr. and Mrs. Geller and gave a light smile.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Geller” Emily said, kindly.

“Hello Emily” Jack said.

“How are you, dear?” Judy asked.

“I’m fine. Thank you. How are you?” Emily asked again.

“I’m alright. Our son’s doing very well” Judy said.

“I could imagine. He is very smart” Emily said.

She turned to Carol, Susan and Ben.

“Hello, Carol. Susan” Emily said.

“Emily….it’s good to see you” Carol said, hesitantly.

“....Same” Susan said. She had to admit, she did have fun with her (normal fun, not adult fun) in London but Ross was family and she hurt him. When you hurt one member of the family, you hurt the whole family.

“Hello Ben” Emily cooed, giving a little wave to the baby. Ben had to give a smile and giggle. He remembered Emily and how kind she was. They say babies were good judges of character but right now, the group didn’t know whether they agreed with that.

Emily turned and saw the rest of the group. 

“Well I think we’ve already established a greeting of some sort” Emily said.

“So Emily…..why did you break up your marriage?” Phoebe asked. She didn’t like Emily but she hated confrontation so she decided to break the ice a little…..not exactly the best question to ask but she felt it was appropriate to make conversation of any kind.

“Well…..I just couldn’t go through with it. When I started rehearsing my vows, I kept saying Ross’ name no matter how hard I tried saying Collin’s, my...ex-fiancee. I….I’m in love with Ross Geller. I don’t mean that in a sort of faux puppy love way, I mean I am in love with Ross Geller” Emily said.

“How sweet” Rachel said sarcastically.

Emily looked up and gave an awkward look to Rachel. “Hello, Rachel”

“Hello, Emily” Rachel said.

“How are you?” Emily asked.

“Well because of your uncle, I got fired” Rachel said.

Emily looked down at the floor. “Sorry”

“No, it’s fine. Great actually. I got a new job at Ralph Lauren. It’s a much better position” Rachel said.

“Oh, well that’s great. I’m happy to hear that” Emily said.

“Yeah….” Rachel said. Emily could sense the tension….with everyone actually. She felt like a sheep in a lion’s den.

The door knocked again. Emily suddenly got tense. She was about to see her ex-husband again. She suddenly started shivering, she was so nervous.

Chandler, going to the door, noticed and was amused by Emily’s nervousness as he expected Ross to turn her little English ass right out the door.

He opened the door and in came Ross Geller and this time everyone yelled “Surprise!” (Albeit Emily) to the right person.

Ross Geller laughed as he came in and his sister came running at him and gave him a big hug.

Emily looked at the man hugging his sister. Attractive wasn’t the right word to describe him. He was…..gorgeous. If he was any more attractive, Emily would have thought he was a god on earth. He had long, slicked back hair, a goatee, a suit that must have cost him a fortune, a more firm and muscular body and glasses that could make a woman swoon.

“Oh, Mon, it’s so good to see you” Ross said.

“Alright, alright. Break it up. The best friend wants to cut in” Chandler said. He pulled Monica off Ross and hugged him tight.

“Chandler! How are you, buddy?” Ross asked.

“I’m great but not as good as you’re doing. How much did that suit cost?” Chandler asked.

“Uh, about 1,500. Is that too much?” Ross asked.

“Oh no, not at all. I got that in my pocket right here” Chandler said, being playfully sarcastic.

Emily widened her eyes. He wasn’t doing too bad financially either….he was every woman’s dream. Of course, she didn’t care about the money. She just wanted Ross.

Next came Phoebe and Joey. Ross hugged them both at once. He still hadn’t noticed Emily yet but she was actually glad about that. She wanted to be noticed at the right time.

Finally, the last person of the group, Rachel was left to hug. He wrapped his strong arms around her, giving her a hug which she happily returned. She always loved it when he returned so she could feel these firm yet gentle hugs that she loved so much. She gave him a kiss on the cheek which made Emily twitch.

After they parted, Ross’ eyes turned toward the rest of the crowd. He had a big smile on his face until his eyes came to Emily. Then his face went blank, his smile gone.

They both stared at each other for the longest time, blinking and breathing in and out, just waiting for the other to talk first.

“.....Emily” Ross said.

“.....Ross” Emily said.

“I…..what...what are you doing here?” Ross asked.

“Well…..I….wanted to speak to you…..about….well….about us” Emily said.

“.....about….about us? I-I don’t understand” Ross stuttered.

“Well….I don’t really think it’s appropriate for us to talk about it right now so….can we wait until after dinner? Assuming I’m invited, of course” Emily said.

“Of-of course. You’re invited. Isn’t she, Monica?” Ross asked.

“.....Sure. Of course. Whatever you want, Ross” Monica said. She didn’t want to invite Emily but it was obvious Ross wanted her to sit down so she allowed her to sit.

To say that it was an awkward dinner was like saying the sky the blue or that grass was green. Freakin’ duh.

The group had planned for a friendly reunion and this possessive and easily jealous English she-demon came in and ruined everything. Now everyone was afraid to utter a word. Well, everyone but one certain paleontologist who was dying to start any sort of conversation

“So….Carol….what’s been going on with Ben since we talked on the phone last week?” Ross asked.

“Well, he started saying full sentences now” Carol said.

“You don’t say. Can I have an example?” Ross asked.

“Sure thing. Go on, Ben. Tell daddy what you feel about him” Carol said.

“I love my daddy” Ben managed to get out.

Everyone awed, even Emily while Ross just smiled an open wide smiled.

“Wow. My boy’s growing up fast” Ross said.

“Don’t remind me. Sooner or later, he’ll be going off to college and leaving us” Carol said.

“Not at all, Carol. Ben’s going to stay this age forever” Ross said, playfully.

“If only” Carol said.

“Who taught him that, anyway?” Ross asked.

Carol looked at Susan. Ross smiled a bigger smile than before.

“No….” Ross said, incredulously.

"Yes indeed" Carol said.

"Why Susan, you did something nice for me. I didn't think that was possible" Ross said.

"Don't get full of yourself. Ben just missed you, that's all so I just kept asking him about you and eventually got to that" Susan said.

"Oh, tell the truth, Susan. She was always showing Ben pictures of you and telling Ben about how you're a big superstar, living in San Diego now" Carol said.

The group widened their eyes and looked to Carol....they didn't want that information coming out with You-Know-Who at the dinner table.

Carol noticed and gave a mental sorry to everyone.

"You live in San Diego? California?" Emily asked.

"Uh, yes. I am. I work at the San Diego Natural History Museum as a Paleontologist and I'm also an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of San Diego. I work at the University in the morning for early classes, the museum the rest of the day" Ross explained.

"Wow. That's pretty impressive" Emily said.

"Thank you. I actually went to a San Diego Paleontology conference a few years ago and I managed to strike a conversation with a representative from the museum and we seem to hit it off well. Very well I guess because months ago, he called and offered me a job and I guess he also told some people at the University about me because they offered me a job about the same time and they offered to work within my schedule at the museum" Ross explained.

"Well, you've certainly been doing well for yourself these past few months" Emily said.

"'Well'? You kidding? The guy's practically a millionaire" Joey said.

"Oh, knock it off, Joey. I'm no such thing. It's true, I've done well for myself in California but not that well" Ross said.

"If driving a BMW, wearing Rolex Watches and wearing $1,500 suits isn't rich, I clearly don't know what rich is" Joey said.

"Oh, shut up, Joey. It's not like that at all" Ross said.

"Have any of you been to San Diego to visit him?" Emily asked.

"We have. He has the most beautiful home. 3 guest bedrooms, one master bedroom with a master bathroom to the side, a media room, and an office with a mahogany wood desk" Judy said.

"Right by the beach too" Jack said.

Monica started looking around her apartment and started comparing it to the beauty just described to her. She looked forward and thought to herself “My place stinks”

“Wow…..that’s really wonderful, Ross. I’m….I’m proud of you” Emily said.

Ross gave Emily a smile. “Thank you”

Before Emily went further she asked about Ross having a special someone in his life.

“Well, not really. Work keeps me busy and I just spend my nights with friends on the beach or a club near the town” Ross said.

Emily smiled. There was hope…

Rachel noticed Emily smiling and gave a slight sneer. Just who did this bitch think she was? After the way she treated Ross, she thinks she can just come in here and just expect Ross to fall head over heels for her just like that? Not on her watch. No one was going to steal away her man-uh, friend Friend who just happened to be a man....a sexy, gorgeous, rich and down to earth man

"So...Ross. I've been thinking: Would you like to have dinner tomorrow night?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rach but I already plan to spend time with the guys tomorrow" Ross said.

Rachel turned her eyes to Joey and Chandler who pretended to be oblivious to what was being said.

"Well, Ross if you're not busy, I'd like to have that word with you after dinner if you don't mind. We can go back to my hotel room" Emily said.

"Well....that sounds fine. I think I'll be able to do that" Ross said.

Rachel rolled her eyes as Emily's smile widened. Clearly, her mission was easier said than done.

"....so....what are the two of you going to go?" Rachel asked.

"Well.....I don't think any of us are going to be hungry considering that we're eating now so we're just going to go to my hotel room so we can talk" Emily said.

"I see....Ross, do you remember when Emily's cousin kicked you out of the apartment she made you move in?" Rachel asked.

Ross' eyes averted to Rachel in a surprised manner. She was bringing this up, why?

"Ross, I also wanted to talk to you about that. I'm so sorry, I had no idea. As a matter of fact, I specifically told him to give you a lease that was good for at least a few years" Emily said.

"Well, thank you, Emily. I appreciate that” Ross said.  
Rachel glared at Emily then gave another smile.

“Ross, do you also remember how she made you sell all of your furniture and sell them to Gunther?” Rachel asked.

Ross turned her eyes to Rachel with raised eyebrows. Just what was she trying to prove.

Emily blinked repeatedly as her breaths became short.

“Ross, I’m more than willing to compensate for the any money you may have lost. I’m also really sorry about that. I was immature and selfish” Emily said.

“That’s not necessary, Emily. Thank you. I managed to get all my stuff back for more or less the same amount. Besides, getting evicted by your cousin wasn’t what cemented my reputation around here anyway. I called the place where I was trying to get a very small studio apartment and apparently word got around that I had a large dog that barked at night and that I was a tap dancer” Ross said.

“That’s odd. I never you any of those things about you. The tap dancing part is the one I’m most surprised about” Emily said.

“Well that’s because I don’t have a dog and I don’t dance” Ross said with a chuckle.

Joey and Chandler, listening to this and like the two buffoons they are, they paid special focus on their dinner and pretended not to pay attention to what was being said. Ross’ eyes shifted to the two of them acting like idiots and rolled his eyes. He knew it was them that gave him the bad rep but he eventually decided it was because they didn’t want him to live in a crappy apartment so he decided to forgive and forget.

“Well that’s odd. How’d word get around of that then?” Emily asked.

“No idea” Ross said, giving a fake confused look on this as his eyes shifted to dumb and dumber.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that” Emily said.

“So….how about you? I hear you were getting married again” Ross said.

“Well…..actually…..I sort of broke it off” Emily said.

Ross gave an actual confused look upon hearing this bit of news. “You...you cancelled your wedding? Why?”

“Well…..Ross….I would much rather talk to you about this in private” Emily said.

“Uh….Of course. Where are you staying?” Ross asked.

“Uh….the New World Hotel” Emily said. She had little money coming here from London. Her parents were not pleased by the news of wanting to get back together with Ross and told her that she would be doing all of this alone if she were to go through with this.

Ross widened his eyes. “That broken down old shack of a hotel? Absolutely not, while you’re here, you’re staying with me”

“No, Ross. I couldn’t do that. I don’t want to be a burden” Emily said.

“Emily, you’re not a burden. I have a suite at the Emerson resort. You’re more than welcome to stay with me. As a matter of fact, let’s get you checked out of there and get your stuff packed” Ross said. He stood up, went to Emily and reached out his hand.

Emily looked at Ross’ hand, smiled and took it in hers. He had a firm grip. Firm, but soft and gentle.

She stood up and while holding his hand, went with him to the door.

Ross turned around. “Sorry to leave so early but we need to get this straightened out. I’ll see every one of you tomorrow”

He went to hug his parents, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, Susan, Carol, he kissed Ben on his head, Monica and finally Rachel who just had a look on her face that just reeked of heartbreak and confusion all mixed into one. The entire group was surprised about this, there was no doubt about that. They expected Ross to shove it in her face as to how well he was doing without her but now he was offering her to stay in his hotel room. HIS hotel room. This was not going as they planned but then again, what ever did?

After giving his final farewell, he left the room with Emily.

“What the hell just happened?” Chandler said.

“She has him wrapped around her finger” Monica said.

“But why? After everything that’s happened between them?” Phoebe asked.

“I don’t know…...maybe he’s still in love with her?” Joey suggested.

The group stayed silent as they considered Joey’s theory. Was Ross still in love with Emily or was he just being nice to her for some other godforsaken reason?

Well they wouldn’t give up without a fight. They knew what kind of power this woman had to deal great mental harm to their friend and they were sure as hell, they weren’t going to let her take over his life again. Particularly this thought came from one member of the group more than any of them. She had long, light brown hair, blue eyes and her last name was the name of a color…..


	2. Chapter 2

Soon after Ross left, Carol and Susan left. They left Ben so he could spend the week with his father. Jack and Judy left 10 minutes later. They'd be back for his going away party next Sunday, though. The whole night was ridiculous. He had barely been here for an hour before Emily forced him to move her out of the hotel she was staying and moving her into his resort suite.

Monica was angrily washing dishes while she sat down Ben in his high-chair.

"Monica, why you so mad?" Ben asked in his little child voice.

Monica smiled a fake sweet smile and looked to Ben. "Oh, nothing, sweetie. Just….Aunt Monica didn't expect to see the English brat that came"

"...Monica mean Aunt Emily?" Ben asked.

Monica turned to Ben and looked at him with a surprised look on his face.

"Aunt Emily, honey?" Monica asked.

"Daddy ask me one time to call her Aunt Emily" Ben asked.

"Did he? Isn't that nice? Uh….sweetie. Did daddy ever tell you to call me 'Aunt Monica'?" Monica asked.

Ben thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"No" Ben said.

"Well, why don't you start doing that from now on?" Monica asked, blood boiling.

"Ok, Monica" Ben said.

"'Aunt Monica', honey" Monica said.

"Ok, Monica" Ben repeated.

Monica sighed. They'd come back to that later. She grabbed a nearby pen and grabbed a post-it note. She wrote down "Kill Ross"

The rest of the group wasn't doing too well either. Phoebe had stories to tell about her nieces and nephew, Joey and Chandler were hoping to catch up with Ross and Rachel…..let's just say that she wasn't….herself at the moment.

"Oh, I'm Emily. I'm British so that means I can treat people like trash and everyone still loves me just the same. He he he" Rachel said in a (horrible) english accent, mocking the woman Ross just left with.

"Rachel, what are you doing?" Chandler asked from a chair nearby.

"Oh nothing. Just….practicing speaking" Rachel said.

Chandler stared at her with no expression on his face before saying "Speaking?"

"Yeah….in case I forget" Rachel said.

"Well, I think you're on your way" Chandler said, giving her a thumbs up and giving his signature fake smile. He knew what she was doing and to be honest, he concurred with what she was doing. The nerve of this woman to turn up uninvited and just take over like that? Ridiculous.

"Can anyone still believe what just happened here?" Joey asked.

"For the 6,182nd time Joey, no. We can't" Chandler said.

"Well hey, can you blame me? He was here for what? An hour and 5 minutes before leaving with her?" Joey asked.

"No, no I can't. What is this power she has over him?" Chandler asked.

"It must be the accent. American guys must love that stuff" Phoebe said.

"Do they?" Chandler asked.

"Well….I mean there was this one girl at the wedding that just made me…" Joey said, finishing the non-statement with his 'how you doin'' laugh.

"Really? Huh…." Chandler said.

"I mean, American girls love British accents so I don't see why it can't be the same the other way around" Monica said.

"True" Rachel said, hating to agree with Monica in this particular situation.

Chandler suddenly stood up, puffed his chest and walked towards Monica.

"'Ullo M'dear lady. Would you like some tea and crumpets?" Chandler asked in a dreadful cockney accent.

Monica turned towards Chandler, an expressionless face and just shook her head no.

Chandler, getting the message, went back to his chair and pouted.

Phoebe patted his head. "Better luck next time, champ"

"Hey Ben, how about we go on to bed? It's getting late. Your daddy will be here to see you tomorrow" Joey said.

"Ok, Uncle Joey" Ben said.

Monica turned her head and gave a wide open shocked look.

"Really, Ross? Really?" Monica thought to herself.

Joey went over and picked Ben up.

"Get ready for liftoff!" Joey said in a pretend speaker voice.

Ben giggled. He loved it when Joey did the rocket routine.

Joey started swinging Ben around. "Now approaching the planet bedroom"

He ran with Ben to the guest room. The group smiled at the interaction (Even Monica who got over the whole 'Not being called Aunt' situation….for now).

After Joey came out and shut the door, he got down to business. "Alright, we need to get rid of the British chick"

"Well that's straight to the point" Chandler said.

"Oh come on, you all agree with me and you know it. We need to get rid of her somehow. The question is how do we do it?" Joey asked.

"Well can't we just let this sort itself out? I mean we all know how this is going to end. Emily begs to get back together, Ross says no and gets with Rachel because they're lobsters" Phoebe said.

"What is it with you and lobsters?" Rachel asked.

"Oh come on. It's Zoology. Lobsters find a mate and they're together for the rest of their lives" Phoebe said.

"...But me and Ross aren't together" Rachel said.

"Well not with that attitude, you're not. Why don't you go to this suite of his and fight for him?" Phoebe said.

"No! No, no. I can't...not this time. I've caused Ross too much pain with that. I got in the middle of his relationship with Julie and we stayed miserable for weeks until we got together, I got in the middle of his relationship with Bonnie and after a brief back-togetherness, we broke up again and we were miserable again, then I ruined his wedding with Emily which caused his whole life here to fall apart. I've gotten in the way too many times. It's time for Ross to make up his own mind without me getting in the way" Rachel said.

"He can't make up his mind! He's a grown man, for Christ's sake. He needs us!" Joey shouted.

Rachel looked at Joey oddly at his ridiculous statement.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Joey. Emily is bad news. Whether or not you caused the disaster wedding is neither here nor there. The fact that she got that paranoid says something about her. What if they get married again and 6 months later, they get a divorce because Ross looked at some girl on the street?" Chandler asked.

"Well I don't know if that'll happen or not. None of us can. What if they get married and then before they even know it, they're celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary with 3 kids?" Rachel said, silently shuddering at the thought of that.

"Well with what we've seen so far, my guess is the more likely scenario" Chandler said.

"You know…..maybe we should give Emily a chance. Maybe she's really sorry for what happened and sincerely wants to get back together with him" Phoebe asked.

"Give Emily a chance?! Are you kidding?! You've seen what she did to him. She made him move all the way across the country. Away from us!" Chandler said.

"I know that but she was in emotional distress and probably just gets jealous easily. Think about it. Since Ross got together with Emily, he's hardly been close with another girl and then to have him say Rachel's name at the wedding after everything they've been through, how would any of us react if we were in Emily's situation?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, the first thing I would say is 'Cool. I have boobs'" Chandler said.

"I wasn't talking to either of you. Shut up. Monica, suppose you and Chandler get married. How would you react if he said Janice's name instead of yours?" Phoebe asked.

"Well first I would say 'Really? Janice?' and then I would kill him" Monica said.

"Right and Rachel. Switch places with Emily for a second. Let's say instead of marrying Emily, he married you. Let's say for a moment he said 'I Ross take thee Emily' instead of your name. How would you react to that?" Phoebe asked.

Rachel had to admit. She would probably react the same way Emily reacted. However, she thought Emily took it way too far.

"Ok, but Ross tried to fix it. He tried sending her 6 dozen roses, he tried calling her multiple times, he moved for her and sold all of his furniture. I think if any of us were in Emily's situation, we would have been mad but to go as far as she did? That's just unforgivable" Chandler said.

"Well, I can't say I disagree with that but it's just something to think about" Phoebe said.

"Well I thought about this….for a long time and I've come to the conclusion that she's clingy, selfish and this little act of hers of being tearful, sincere and kind is just that: an act and once she has him back in her grasp, she'll crush him again like a grape" Chandler said.

"Agreed. Once a psychopath, always a psychopath" Joey said.

"So...me and Joey are in agreement with each other. Is anyone else going to join our little alliance or is this all we're going to be working with?" Chandler asked.

Everyone stayed silent before Monica went over and joined the guys.

"I'm sorry, Pheebs. What you're saying makes sense but you just don't change your mind about something just like that…..and when you mess with a Geller, you mess with us all. No one hurts my brother and gets away with it" Monica said.

Phoebe nodded. She turned to Rachel.

"How about you, Rach?" Phoebe asked.

Rachel sighed. "I'm with Phoebe, guys. I can't get in the middle of Ross being happy again. If we stay friends, then it'll be better than not speaking with him at all"

"Well alright. The Anti-Succubus and Seductress-Human-Organization for Loving and Eager Super-geniuses has hereby been created. Our mission is to and forever hold bad women accountable for and to protect best buddies from their wrath" Joey said.

"Wait, doesn't that spell-" Phoebe tried to say.

"First meeting underway. No non-members allowed" Joey said.

He dragged a reluctant Monica and Chandler to the other bedroom.

Phoebe huffed. "Assholes"

Rachel just sighed. She just hoped this would all end well for Ross, no matter who he ended up with. She was tired of seeing him in pain.

* * *

_*Emerson Resort Suite*_

Ross was in his luxury suite with a living area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom with 2 queen sized beds. He was at the desk, grading exams he had given the week before.

 _"Good….good….bad….good….What the hell is he even talking about here?"_ Ross thought.

The door to the bathroom opened and out came Emily in a bathrobe.

Ross turned and smiled. "How was your shower?"

"Oh, it was marvelous. The shower head had the perfect spray setting. I almost dozed off a time or two while I was in there" Emily said.

"I don't blame you. It's pretty relaxing" Ross said.

"So how about you? What are you doing?" Emily asked.

"Just grading an Exam I assigned last week" Ross said.

"Oh, well I guess I shouldn't interrupt so I'll just read my book in the corner" Emily said.

"No, no. That's alright. I can take a break. I only teach about 25 people a class" Ross said. He pulled her a nearby chair and he gestured for her to sit, which she did.

"Is it hard balancing your job at the University and your job at the museum?" Emily asked.

"Uh, no. It's alright. At the very least, I just get a few people coming into my office for help on an assignment and the occasional email. Other than that, it's not hard to balance the two" Ross said.

"Well that's good. I always imagined what it's like being a Professor and now I'm sharing a room with one" Emily said.

They both shared a laugh.

"So…...you never answered my question at dinner" Ross said.

Emily gave a slight frown. She sort of already knew where this was going. "What question?"

"Why did you call off your marriage?" Ross asked.

Emily looked down at the ground. "...Well….it's kind of a long story"

"Well, not to try to give a smart answer but we have all night" Ross said.

"Right. I guess you deserve that much….well….I started dating Collin after we called it off. You know, the guy I broke up with so we could be together" Emily said.

"Oh, yeah. That guy. Poor man. He got dumped twice by the same woman" Ross said before realizing that's exactly what happened with him and Rachel and got momentarily depressed.

Emily giggled a bit. "Yeah. Poor bloke. I mean I still like him but….that's really the most I'll ever feel about him. I just like him. I don't love him"

"Really? When did you find that out?" Ross asked, looking carefully at Emily's expressions.

"Well, it was really about a month after I accepted his marriage proposal. I thought I'd loved him but I started to realize it was just a way to get over you because I kept picturing him with your face, I accidentally ordered invitations with your name on it and when I kept rehearsing my lines, I kept saying your name instead of Collin's" Emily said.

Ross listened carefully and he blinking his eyes at what he was hearing. Emily thought about him?...She thought about him constantly when she was marrying someone else?

"Emily….what...what are you trying to say?" Ross asked.

"Ross…..I'm in love with you...I don't mean it in a sort of puppy love sort of way, I'm really...really in love with you" Emily said.

Ross widened his eyes at hearing this news…..this day was getting more interesting by the minute.

"...Wow" Ross said.

"Ross….I know I don't deserve it, not by a long shot….but how about we have a second chance? The both of us?" Emily asked.

Emily grabbed his hands and Ross wrapped his fingers around hers. He stayed silent for a moment, looking into her hopeful eyes before giving a sigh.

"Emily…...I think you know I can't do that" Ross said.

"Well, why not?" Emily asked, small tears forming in her eyes.

"Emily….you know full and well why not. You remember the very last time we talked before the divorce? You told me you didn't trust me after everything I did for you. I even let go of a very dear friend of mine from my life for you and you told me you didn't trust me" Ross said.

"I know" Emily said, getting choked up.

"I tried so hard to make our marriage work and you either pushed me away or demanded something else….I couldn't keep it up, Emily. You pushed me too hard" Ross said.

Emily started crying. Tears started going down her face. Despite all this, though, she nodded.

"I'm aware of that. Ross, I'm so sorry….for everything" Emily said, tears running down her face.

Ross looked at the sight before him with sympathy. He got out a handkerchief he kept in his pocket and passed it to her.

"Thank you" Emily said.

"My pleasure. Please don't cry, Emily. I hate seeing you like this" Ross said.

"I'm sorry, it's just….I mean I blew it with my one true love and I didn't even know it until it was too late" Emily said. She blew her nose into the handkerchief.

Ross pulled her into a hug which she returned. "It's alright, Emily. You can always find someone else"

"But I don't want anyone else, Ross. I want you. No one else has ever made me feel the way I feel when I'm around you. When I'm with you, I feel like my whole is complete that I would die happy just by being with you. Ross, is there no way we can try again? At all?" Emily asked.

"Well…..I….I can't say that there is. I'm sorry" Ross said.

Emily let out more tears as they fell on his suit. Ross didn't mind though. This situation was a lot more important than dollar bills.

"Then I guess that's it. I came all the way here for nothing….but I guess it's what I deserve, right? Your friends seem to think so….and I suppose they're right" Emily said.

"Emily, to hell with them, alright? I love them but at this point, I don't give a damn what they think" Ross said.

"That's kind of you to say, Ross but without you, it doesn't make me feel better" Emily said.

She let out tiny little wails of sadness which just made Ross feel like a complete jackass.

"Emily….it's not like I haven't thought about it in the past" Ross said.

Emily pulled back and looked at him in the eye with a sign of hope in her eye. "Really?"

"Well of course. Emily, when I was with you, a part of me that I didn't even know existed awoke and took over my mind and body. I played Rugby for the first time because of you, I got an earring, I asked you to marry me when we were only dating for 6 weeks. Of course I've thought about it. Before our wedding, our relationship was just….magical" Ross said.

"It was…...that's why I miss it badly" Emily said.

Ross let go of Emily's hand and started walking toward the kitchen counter and leaned over it.

"I do too….any man on this earth would kill for someone like you, Emily. You're beautiful, kind, fun, loving, you're great with children….Ben loves you" Ross said.

"Well, I love him. It's hard not to love such a cute child like Ben" Emily said, following Ross to the counter. She placed her arms around his waist. Ross wanted to tell her to stop but….for some reason he didn't. It was like his body was forcing him to accept it…..or maybe he really did want to get back together with her.

Ross suddenly remembered something that caused him to chuckle. "Do you remember the day we went on a walk down Central Park with Ben in his stroller?"

Emily chuckled. "People actually thought I was his mother"

Ross and Emily both shared a laugh. When it died down, they both stayed in that position for quite some time.

"I love that memory" Emily said.

"So do I…..it actually made me start thinking that we could be more than a regular boyfriend and girlfriend" Ross said.

"We could have….we can be" Emily said.

Ross turned and faced Emily. Ross looked for the longest time at Emily….she looked beautiful especially when she was in that lucious bathrobe. He couldn't take it anymore. He moved his mouth over hers and they started kissing.

At first, it was a soft and sweet kiss but soon momentum followed and what was soft and sweet became hard, hot and passionate. Emily's hand around Ross' dress suit and tried to get it off with Ross helping her. Soon, his pants and suit and shirt were on the floor with their lips never parting once. It was a skillful trait to be able to do that, no doubt.

When they parted, Emily took the sight before her in. His undershirt displayed all his toned muscles. She could even see abs from underneath his shirt.

"You've been working out" Emily said.

"Is it really that noticeable?" Ross asked.

"You bet your arse it is" Emily said.

She undid her bathrobes sash and displayed her naked body to Ross Geller.

Ross' eyes almost fell out of his sockets.

"It's been a long time since I've seen those….actually, it's been a while since I've seen any of those period" Ross said.

"Well then, let's refresh your memory then" Emily said with a seductive smile.

She grabbed the back of his head and smashed her lips to his. They were in for a rather less than productive evening (or a rather productive evening based on one's personal perception). Ross' exam papers laid scattered on his desk, forgotten for the night.

They managed to get to the bedroom without opening their eyes and their lips locked. How they managed that, no one will ever know. Thank god for the both of them that the walls were soundproof.


	3. Chapter 3

The 30 (Going on 31) year old man woke up from his queen sized bed. Instantly, he felt pressure on his chest. He looked down and saw Emily Waltham on his chest sleeping.

It was all true, then….he had sex with his ex-wife last night. This was an interesting situation to be in, no doubt. Although, he wasn't exactly sure if this was a situation he wanted to be in.

He gently moved Emily off his chest and got off the bed. He opened a drawer and got out one of his bathrobes and put in on. Today was going to be a long day where he had some explaining to do to some people.

* * *

_*20 minutes later*_

Ross was drinking a cup of coffee that he ordered from the room service menu. He had ordered two breakfast meals: One for him and one for Emily. He got her bacon, eggs, toast, hashed potatoes and cup of hot tea. He just had toast, eggs and potatoes considering the fact his religion didn't allow him to eat bacon of course.

He went back to grading his exams. He wanted to finish the last of them off. Overall, they weren't too bad. Some bad grades, some good, most average. Nothing to cry about but he'd hoped his students will do better next time.

The door to the bedroom opened and Emily came out in the dress shirt Ross was wearing last night. Ross turned and looked her up and down. He had to admit, most women complained about how they looked in the morning but right now, the woman he was looking at was quite a sight for sore eyes.

"Good morning, Ross" Emily said with a big smile.

"Good morning….are you that short on clothes that you have to borrow mine?" Ross asked with a grin. He turned back to his exam papers

"Oh, sod off. I thought most men like it when lovers wear their clothes after a night of love" Emily said with a grin. She went up behind him and started nibbling his ears. Ross frowned at this. Not because of the ear nibbling, that felt wonderful but at being called lover made him feel a little uncomfortable. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about this whole thing…..

When Emily opened her eyes, she saw a glimpse of a frown on Ross' mouth and stopped.

"Is something wrong, Ross?" Emily asked.

"Hm? Oh no, not at all, Emily. That felt nice. Thank you" Ross said.

"...Well, it's my pleasure, darling. Oh you ordered me breakfast?" Emily said, turning her eyes to the counter and saw a plate full of untouched food and a cup of tea.

"I did" Ross said.

"Oh, you are such a sweetheart" Emily said, grabbing his head and kissing him on the lips. Ross closed his eyes and returned the kiss.

When they parted, Emily sat on a chair by the counter and took a sip of her tea.

"Hm, no offense, but someone needs to teach you Americans how to make a proper cup of tea" Emily said with a playful grin.

"Well we here across the pond prefer overpriced coffee" Ross said.

"So I've noticed considering you spend so much time at Central Perk here. So what do you want to do today?" Emily asked.

"Well…..as I said last night, I have a night planned with Joey and Chandler but I'm going to spend the day with Ben today. I haven't seen him in months" Ross said.

"Well that'll be good. Some quality father/son time will do both of you good. I don't suppose you'll mind if I tag along?" Emily asked.

"No, of course not. I think he'll be happy to see you" Ross said.

After a moment of silence, Emily finally commented on the elephant in the room. "So….last night was amazing"

Ross dropped his pen and blinked repeatedly. "...Yes….yes it was"

He gave a bit of a nervous chuckle. He didn't know how to describe how he felt about it. Ross Geller was never one to never enjoy a night of fun but he didn't know if this was inappropriate especially since they only saw each other for the first time in many months just yesterday.

Emily could sense his nervousness from a mile away and frowned. "You regret it, don't you?"

Ross sighed and took off his glasses. "I don't know, Emily…..I mean….I came from California to here so I could spend time with my friends and son and here I am sleeping around with my ex-wife"

Emily looked down to the ground and gave a sad frown. "So that's all you think of me now….just your ex-wife?"

Ross grabbed on to her chin, tilted her head up and gave her a peck on the lips.

"Of course not, Emily. Of course I think much more of you but this is all so sudden. I didn't think I'd ever see you again before yesterday" Ross said.

"I know….I wanted to call you for a little over a month but I decided that coming here would be more appropriate…..I also wanted to see your face again" Emily said.

Ross had to admit, that got a smile from him. "Well I am glad you decided to come…..I did miss you"

"I missed you too" Emily said. She grabbed Ross and gave him a deep kiss on the mouth. A minute later, they parted.

Emily looked deep into his eyes. "...So….have you thought about us?"

Ross stared at her for a moment before saying "I have and….I would like to believe there's something still between us but I don't think one night of sex can decide whether we should give us another go"

"...You're right. Maybe we should take it one step at a time" Emily said.

"We probably should….." Ross said, smiling.

"So….does this mean you're giving our relationship a second chance?" Emily asked.

Ross smiled warmly. "...Yes"

Emily grinned an open wide smile and gave Ross a big hug. "Thank you"

Ross returned the hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Once they parted, Emily said with a suggestive little smile on her face "I need to take a shower…...do you want to join me?"

A shower with a beautiful Englishwoman? Was Ross straight? And Male? Of course he wasn't going to turn that down.

Emily dragged Ross by the sash of his bathrobe which caused it to be undone…..some things were revealed which caused Emily's blood to grow in heat.

* * *

_*Monica's Apartment, 10AM*_

Joey, Chandler and Monica were delving into how they can prove to Ross that Emily wasn't as she appeared to be. Unfortunately, they were having little luck on that. You see, these people weren't exactly….planners of these sorts of things. This was much better in the hands of professionals….like the Mafia.

"...Maybe we can get her really drunk and talk to her about this ex-boyfriend of hers? Collin, was it and she'll remember a hot steamy night with him and Ross will go so jealous and angry that he'll tell her to piss on off" Joey suggested, smiling like he nailed it.

Monica and Chandler looked at him incredulously.

"Joey, that's even worse than your idea to seduce Emily and get her to sleep with you" Chandler said.

"Ok, Einstein, what's your brilliant idea?" Joey asked.

"Well, I've had time to think it over and I'm thinking what we ought to do is-" Chandler said before the door opened.

Rachel and Phoebe came inside as Chandler was about to reveal his plan.

"Hey guys. What's going on?" Rachel asked.

"Sorry. Secret A-S-S-H-O-L-E-S business here" Joey said, trying his best to sound official and important but in reality, his team was groaning while the two women at the door tried their best to hold in their last.

"Joey, have you ever put those letters together and I don't know….said it aloud?" Chandler asked.

"Nah, organizations that have these cutesy little acronyms that spell out some word are stupid. Ours sound dignified, you know. Official. Respectable" Joey said.

Phoebe and Rachel couldn't hold it in anymore. They just burst out laughing while Monica and Chandler just looked completely embarrassed. They really should have known what they were getting into when agreeing to conspire with Joey.

"Oh, you're just jealous. One day, Ross will look back on this day and he'll say….thanks A-S-S-H-O-L-E-S" Joey said looking up with a dreamy look on his face. Rachel and Phoebe were about ready to bust a gut.

"...ok, now on with the plan. I was thinking that-" Chandler said.

"Hey! Hey! Not in front of the naysayers" Joey said.

Chandler grabbed a newspaper and smacked it upside Joey's head.

"Shut up. Now she probably has some skeleton in her closet of some sort" Chandler said.

Joey gasped. "She collects dead people?"

Everyone just looked at him oddly.

"No, you moron! I mean she's probably hiding something from us" Chandler said.

"Oh…." Joey said.

"So anyway, what I was thinking is that one of us has to go up to that suite tonight and go through any luggage she might have, even her purse if we must" Chandler said.

"But that's illegal, isn't it?" Phoebe said.

"Hey. Nothing is ever too good for our friend. He'll thank us one day for getting that witch out of his life for good" Chandler said.

"Guys, this is getting out of hand. You're literally going to break into Ross' suite and steal something of Emily's to try to prove a point?" Rachel asked.

"Firstly, we're not going to break into anything. We're going over there for our guy's night tonight and Emily will be out…doing whatever it is Emily does. Also, we're not going to steal anything. We'll just commandeer something that's revealing from her stuff. We'll take a picture of it and then show it to Ross" Chandler said.

"Then he'll finally see what kind of person Emily really is. We're doing a public service here, guys. Really" Joey said.

"But wait, if you're having a 'guy's night', where am I going to be?" Monica asked.

"Well...you can go out and distract Emily. Make her feel welcome, take her out shopping or something" Chandler said.

"Ok….Phoebe, Rachel. Would you like to join me and Emily tonight?" Monica asked.

"I guess I can but don't expect me to be joining this little group of yours. I still think it's dirty and wrong" Phoebe said.

Monica looked to Rachel. "Well….Rach?"

Rachel mentally sighed. She didn't know how to feel about Emily right now. On the one hand, she hated her for stealing Ross from her and making him feel awful about himself. On the other, she made Ross happy….somewhat so in retrospect, just how awful could she be?

"Well…...I guess I can….but if you don't find anything then you better call this whole thing off" Rachel said.

"I think we can deal with that" Chandler said.

"Same" Monica said.

"That sounds good to me though I'm fairly confident she's hiding some dead guy in her bag" Joey said.

Everyone groaned while Chandler planted his hand in his face.

"What? That's exactly what you said, isn't it, Chandler?" Joey asked.

"...Yeah. yep. That's exactly what I said" Chandler said, giving up on trying to have an argument with Joey.

"See? Bet you all feel so stupid now" Joey said with a grin.

"Oh yeah" murmured throughout the room.

The guest bedroom opened and out came Ben Geller.

"Good morning, sweetie" Monica cooed, walking over to Ben and picking him up. He was getting heavy.

"Good morning, Monica" Ben said with a cute smile on his face.

Monica fumed a little inside….they really needed to work on that 'Aunt' thing.

"Hey hey, there's my big guy" Chandler said to his future nephew-in-law (hopefully).

"Uncle Chandler!" Ben said while Chandler took him from Monica's arm.

Monica just stood frozen in place as she just couldn't believe what she was hearing. Uncle Chandler? Uncle Joey? AUNT EMILY?! That bastard, Ross, had a lot of explaining to do.

Someone pounded on the door.

"THIS IS THE FBI! YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST! OPEN THE DOOR NOW!" Someone out the door shouted. Everyone recognized that pretending-to-be-tough voice. Even Joey and that was saying something.

Monica rolled her eyes as she walked to the door. She opened the door to reveal one Ross Geller and Emily Waltham, hand in hand.

Everyone noticed and they widened their eyes at the sight. There was no way….no possible conceivable way.

"Hey!" Ross said. After hugging Monica, he came in with Emily's hand in his.

"Everyone. We have some wonderful news" Ross said as he walked into the apartment with Emily.

"Ross and I are officially going out again" Emily said.

No words were spoken for a good few seconds. Chandler was on the verge of nearly dropping Ben at hearing this bit of news.

"Guys, guys, don't get too excited now" Ross said, frowning at the lack of happiness in the room right now.

"Oh, yeah...that's great….really wonderful" Joey said with a fake smile.

"Yeah….nice" Monica said.

The rest gave a mutual agreement with the same sort of disappointed and confused tone.

Ross and Emily frowned. To be honest, they kind of expected this reaction but they'd at least thought they'd be happy in them giving their relationship another try at least.

"Well….thanks" Ross said.

Emily stayed silent. She didn't want to start another fiasco like last night.

"Daddy!" Ben said.

"Ben!" Ross said, running towards Ben. He took him from Chandler's arms and held him in his.

"How about you and me spend the whole day together, Ben?" Ross asked.

"Yeah!" Ben said, excitedly.

"Good. Did you have fun with Monica?" Ross asked.

"Uh huh" Ben said.

"Good. How were your other Aunts and Uncles?" Ross asked further.

Monica breathed in a heavy sigh. Ok, this was definitely something on her bucket list for later.

"They good" Ben said.

"Well good. Now how about we go out and get some ice cream? We'll take Aunt Emily too" Ross asked.

"Yay!" Ben said. Ross smiled at his boy. He had been dying to see that laughing face for the last 3 months (The last time since he saw them).

Joey and Chandler looked at each other. It was time to enact Phase One of the plan.

"Hey, Ross. Remember our guy's night tonight?" Joey asked.

"Wouldn't forget it for a million years, Joey" Ross said.

"How about we spend it at your place tonight? It's much better than ours" Chandler asked.

"Sounds good to me but you should take more pride in your place. It's pretty nice" Ross said.

"Yeah, well, it's not as good as any place a big hotshot like you is living in" Chandler said.

"Oh believe me, gents, I'm anything but a hotshot" Ross said.

"Don't be modest, darling. You've done pretty well for yourself up to this point" Emily said, kissing his cheek.

"Yeah, and he did it all without you" Rachel whispered, not exactly happy at her prospective boyfriend being kissed like that by anyone but her.

Chandler eyed Monica. She winked at him. Time to enact Phase 2.

"So….Emily….I was wondering if you're not doing anything tonight, do you want to do something with me, Phoebe and Rachel?" Monica asked.

Emily was surprised by this proposal. After the way they treated her last night, she was surprised they even wanted to speak to her, let alone spend time with her. However, she was pleased to hear this. This was probably the first step into making friends with them again.

"Oh…of course. I'd be happy too. What would we be doing?" Emily asked.

"Oh, you know…..stuff" Monica said, improving.

"...May I ask what this 'stuff' is?" Emily asked, looking more confused.

"Shopping. We're going shopping" Monica said.

"Oh, well, I would love to but I haven't brought that much money with me. I couldn't afford anything but a soft drink and a pretzel" Emily said.

"Oh, that's alright. We can just try stuff on. That's what women do at the mall to feel better about their financial situations. They try on clothes they can't afford and that makes them feel powerful" Monica said. She didn't really know if that was true or not. She just needed Emily to say yes.

"...Really?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, sure" Monica said, clearly desperate.

"Well, if you ladies need money, I'd be happy to chip in" Ross said. He was happy they were being more accepting of Emily now. Maybe they finally got over the whole making him move, selling his furniture and divorcing him scenario.

"Oh, that's alright, darling. There's no need. I'd just be happy to spend time with all of you. It's been quite a while" Emily said.

"It certainly has. We're looking forward to getting to know you more" Monica said in a pretty cheesy grin. Almost cheesy enough to suggest she was hiding something.

"Well, Benny Boy here is patiently waiting for his ice cream so we'd better get going. Joey, Chandler, I'll see you guys tonight?" Ross asked.

"You got it, big man" Joey said.

Ross fist bumped Joey and Chandler.

"And Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, I'll see you all tonight as well" Emily said.

"You certainly will" Monica said.

Emily went forward and gave each one of them a hug. When she got to Rachel, Rachel hugged her maybe just a little bit too hard.

"Uh...Rachel...your hug is starting to hurt" Emily protested.

"Oh" Rachel said, releasing her. Emily took a breath in and out, her ribs hurting in the process.

"Well, we'll be seeing you guys" Ross said. He (While holding Ben) left with Emily holding his arm.

They left the group of five with their thoughts….their particularly angry thoughts.

"This is getting out of hand. They're seeing each other again? After 1 night?" Chandler asked.

"Must have been sooome night" Joey said, shaking his head.

This hit Rachel hard. It wasn't possible….Ross didn't have sex with her, did he?

"I can't believe this. This was supposed to be a perfect week between us friends and she just ruined everything" Monica said.

"We need to get this thing rolling along. We need to get rid of this woman fast and I mean FAST" Joey said, emphasizing the second fast.

"Agreed" Chandler said.

"Why do you have to do this? I don't like Emily as much as any of you guys do but this seems more like a witch-hunt more than anything. They had a good night, together. So what?" Phoebe asked.

"It matters because Ross isn't meant to get together with this witch. She probably just broke up with this Collin guy because she couldn't control him as easily as she could control Ross. Before their divorce, she was making him do everything she demanded. She just wants that back and while you may not see it, we're going to prove it" Chandler said.

"Well, have you ever considered how Ross might feel about this? Maybe he really wants it to work out between the two of them" Phoebe suggested.

"No, he only thinks he does because she's manipulating him. It's what she does. She's probably the one that suggested they ought to get married" Joey said.

"But I thought Ross was the one that proposed to her?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, but she probably pushed him to do it. Like when he got that stupid earring, she must have dropped some hints like 'Oh, wouldn't it be great if this were our wedding ring' or something like that" Joey said in a British accent.

"Ok, you guys seriously need to work on your British accents. They are terrible" Monica said.

"Whatever. The point is she's out to destroy him no matter what it takes" Joey said.

"This is sounding dangerously like the paranoia Emily had for Rachel" Phoebe said.

"This is completely different. We're protecting Ross, she's only out for herself" Chandler said.

Phoebe sighed. "Well, I'm guessing I'm not getting through with you people so I guess I'll just go home and prepare for tonight"

"I'd better go too" Rachel said, needing to go cry somewhere. She was hoping this week would end very differently but it was quite clear that she was not getting back together with Ross this week and probably not ever.

 _"Well Congratulations, Emily. You won. You better not hurt him again, though or I'll make sure you'll never show your face in New York again"_ Rachel angrily thought.


	4. Chapter 4

"Weee!" Emily cried as she pushed Ben on the swings as Ben giggled.

Ross, reading a newspaper nearby on a park bench, smiled at the sight before him. It was now around 4 in the afternoon and they had spent the whole day together. They went sight-seeing at the Empire State Building, saw the Statue of Liberty, went out for ice cream, and now they were here at the park.

The Paleontologist looked at his watch and saw that it was getting late so he got up and walked towards the pair having fun. He gave a bit of a knowing smile to Emily.

"Oh, don't tell me you're going to spoil our fun" Emily said, pouting while still pushing Ben on the swing.

"Afraid so. It's getting late" Ross said, pointing to his watch.

"Oh bugger off with your fancy watch and give us a few more minutes" Emily said playfully.

"Alright but a few more minutes is all you're going to get. We both have things to do. Remember?" Ross asked.

"Yes, I remember. Just 5 more minutes. Ben's having a wonderful time. Aren't you, Ben?" Emily asked.

"Yeah" Ben said, nodding and laughing.

Ross sighed. He hated being the asshole to kill off a child's fun so he agreed.

"5 more minutes. Is that enough for you, Ben?" Ross asked.

"Yes, daddy" Ben said.

Not sure if he really understood what he was actually trying to say, Ross just smiled and watched from where he was standing. He loved how Ben and Emily fit together like a glove. It was easy to see why someone would mistake them as mother and son.

After the time limit, Ross got in the way again and Emily stopped pushing the 4 year old boy.

"Alright. It's time to go, Ben" Emily said.

"Awww!" Ben said, whining.

"Oh, I know but Mr. Buzzkill over here needs us to stop but we'll have more fun later, alright?" Emily asked.

"Ok" Ben said, still pouting. Ross went over and picked him up.

"Did you have fun today, buddy?" Ross asked.

"Yes. Aunt Emily fun" Ben said.

Emily cooed at Ben. "Well you're so fun to play with"

She tickled his belly which caused Ben to giggle.

"Alright, alright. That's enough. Let's stop before we get too distracted. Ben, you're going to spend the night with your grandma and grandpa. How does that sound?" Ross asked.

"I love too, daddy" Ben said.

Ross and Emily chuckled. "Glad to hear it, buddy"

A seemingly perfect day was coming to an end. However, little did they know the most eventful parts of their days were yet to come, at least in a plan by 3 people with 2 people on the side wanting nothing to do with what was about to come….

* * *

_*Monica's Apartment, 4:30PM*_

"Alright, are we ready to do this?" Monica asked.

"You bet. The A-S-" Joey tried to say.

"Let's just say yes and be done with it" Chandler said, not wanting to hear the rest of that acronym.

Phoebe entered the room with Rachel. They weren't that noticeable but Rachel had a bit of puffy eyes. She had spent 2 hours crying after she came home from work. She could barely concentrate on her work during the day. Her boss almost asked her to leave for the day.

Thankfully, she was able to recover and focus on enjoying herself that night. She still didn't approve of the plan but she wasn't going to allow that to get in the way of getting over the fact that Ross and Emily were back together.

"Alright. We're all here now let's discuss the plan once more-" Monica said.

"Hold it. Don't you remember? I'm not part of your group. I don't approve of it" Phoebe said.

"Neither am I" Rachel said.

"Well when we find something tonight, you may just very well change your mind" Chandler said.

"Just what do you expect to find anyway that will be so damaging to her character anyway?" Rachel asked, trying to act like she didn't secretly want them to find anything negative about Emily.

"I don't know but it'll be something. Even a piece of clothing with men's cologne on it will do the trick" Joey said.

"Really? That's the minimum standard you're going for? Why not just monitor everything she does at that point?" Phoebe asked.

"We tried discussing that and in order to do that, we would have to occasionally shift places to London and we decided that probably wasn't the best course of action" Chandler said.

Phoebe sighed. She knew that this group had Ross' best interest at heart (Or at least that's what they kept telling everybody) but this was ridiculous. They were willing to stalk another human being for something she did months ago just so they could appear to be moral superiors. It shuddered her to think what else they were willing to do.

"Listen, us going back and forth all day isn't accomplishing anything. If it turns out that Emily sincerely wants a second chance with no conditions and she really is sorry for what happened, then we'll drop this whole thing and they can be together but if she isn't, then we were right all this time and we're just doing Ross a favor and it still ends in his benefit" Monica said.

"I guess that's reasonable I guess but I still think my plan is better to just let this thing play out all by itself. She came all this way for him, who's to say she's the same Emily from before?" Phoebe asked.

"None of us do, that's why we're making sure. If she isn't the same, she'll have nothing to worry about" Joey said.

As the group continued their banter, the door knocked. Obviously, it was Ross and Emily. Chandler sighed. Now it was time for them to initiate their plan. He went to the door and opened it to reveal the said couple.

After hugging Ross for a brief second, Chandler went in to hug Emily which she returned. With this and being invited shopping, this made her happy, it sort of made her feel accepted in the group.

"So, Emily, ready to go have girl fun?" Monica asked.

"Oh, yes. I'm very excited for it" Emily said.

"Are you sure you ladies don't need any money? I'm more than happy to give you some" Ross said, getting out his wallet.

"Knock it off, Ross. You aren't our sugar daddy…..yet" Phoebe said, eyeing him up and down. Ross noticed and got a weird look on his face.

"Uh….Phoebe?" Ross asked.

"Huh? Oh right, yeah. We don't need money. We're just going to try stuff on and look" Phoebe said.

"Alright. If you insist" Ross said, putting his wallet back in his suit pocket.

"I mean, if you want to give us your credit card, that'd be good" Rachel said.

"Yeah. How about it, big bro?" Monica asked.

"Uh….no. Hell no" Ross said.

"Oh, come on, Ross. There was this lingerie set that I was looking at and I was hoping to get it. That's all I want, I promise" Monica said.

Ross closed his eyes and shuddered. "No. No. No"

Chandler widened his eyes and his eyes shifted to Ross. "Hey, you know what? I think it would be wonderful if you gave them your credit card. It would really give them the chance to bond, you know?"

Ross looked at him weirdly. "Chandler….why do you care?"

"Well…..you know. Over the past few months, I've been thinking about the importance of sisterhood...and uh the best way to bind women together is for them to share common interests and as well all know, shopping is on top of the list of common interests" Chandler said with a dumb look on his face as he rambled on.

The whole room's eyes were on him. Moments later, Ross shrugged and took out his credit card from his wallet and passed it to Monica.

"I'm placing a $1,000 limit on all of you and no, I don't mean for each of you, I mean for ALL of you. Anything more, I'm sending it all back" Ross said sternly.

"Alright. Relax. We'll be good" Monica said.

"Yeah, well. Anyways, I suppose me, Joey and Chandler are off now. I'll see you ladies later" Ross said.

He gave Monica, Phoebe and Rachel a kiss on the cheek. For Emily, he gave her a big kiss on the lips. The group silently groaned at the sight.

When they parted, Joey and Chandler grabbed each of his arms and practically dragged him out of the room.

"Alright, we got men things to do. No babes allowed" Chandler said.

"We'll be back tonight….maybe" Joey said.

All three of them left the room, leaving the women to giggle at their pathetic attempt at acting masculine.

"I'm sorry, Monica, you're dating him?" Rachel asked.

"You're dating Joey?!" Emily asked, shocked.

"What? Ew, no. I'm dating Chandler" Monica said.

"Oh wow, that's so great! I'm happy for the both of you. When did this begin?" She asked.

"Actually in London at yours and Ross' wedding" Monica said, shuddering at the memory of that awful wedding.

"Oh, wow. I had no idea….but I guess that's because I wasn't really there to see for myself" Emily said, a little ashamed of herself.

"...Well...that's all behind us, now. Let's focus on the here and now" Monica said, trying ever so hard to not slap this Englishwoman upside her head.

"Agreed. So, where's the shopping mall around here?" Emily asked.

* * *

_*Emerson resort and suite*_

The door to Ross' suite opened and in went Ross, Chandler and Joey. Chandler and Joey had to take in the beautiful sight around them.

"Good god, man!" Joey exclaimed.

"What?" Ross asked.

"This place, dude" Chandler said, just as shocked as Joey.

It was true, the suite was a pretty sight. 45 inch plasma TV, marble floors, a bar, a fridge stocked with drinks and snacks (Which he had to pay for of course) and video game consoles that ranged from the NES to the Playstation.

"Oh come on, it's not that good. I've seen better" Ross said.

"Where? Is that a fully stocked bar over there?" Joey asked, going over to the corner of the room.

"Yes but don't get any ideas. I have to pay for that" Ross said sternly as Joey made his way over. Obviously, this was falling on deaf ears as Joey already opened up a bottle of whiskey and poured 3 glasses.

Ross sighed. There was 30 dollars down the drain.

"Aw, come on, Ross. Let's live a little. Let's get wild. The 3 musketeers back together again!" Joey said.

"Well I get the spirit of that but with the girls with my credit card, I'm going to start needing to watch my pennies" Ross said.

"Aw come on, it's just a shopping mall. Just how much damage can they do?" Chandler asked as he grabbed a glass of whiskey and took a drink.

Ross sighed, conceding the battle for the night. He grabbed the glass and took a sip of the alcoholic drink.

* * *

_*Mall*_

All 4 women had 2-3 bags on each hand. Obviously that little spending limit of $1,000 fell on deaf ears as well. Ross Geller wasn't exactly known for any effective authoritative mannerisms even when he acted all tough.

"You sure Ross won't make us give these back?" Phoebe asked.

"Aw, he's a sap. I'll just need to give him one of those little sister pouting looks and say 'oh, I'm so sorry, big brother' and he'll cave. He always does" Monica said.

As they left the mall, they went to Monica's car and put all the bags in the trunk. Emily had to admit, this was a pretty fun night and the first time she ever went on an American shopping mall spree. She had to admit, after a week of going through pure hell of cancelling her wedding and facing confrontation from her father and stepmother about calling it off, she didn't know what to expect from the group she got to know so well in New York but now that she was getting accustomed to everything again, she felt like she could make this her new home once getting her affairs in order at her home in London...of course she didn't exactly know how that would work with Ross living in California now but she'd manage somehow no doubt.

They drove back to Monica's apartment for some girl talk. They poured each other glasses of wine as they talked.

"So, Monica….how is Chandler in bed?" Emily asked.

"Well to be honest…...Meh" Monica said.

"Really? Just 'meh'?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, we're still working on the whole 'premature ejaculation' thing. Before we started dating, I heard stories of how he only lasted about 3-4 minutes" Monica said.

The ladies giggled at Chandler's expense.

* * *

_*Ross' suite*_

As the 3 men were playing a football video game on the Playstation, Chandler suddenly stopped for a moment. He had a sense that his pride had been hurt somehow.

"Chandler, yo! What's up? You totally missed that pass" Joey asked, exasperated that Chandler's player just stood there.

"Oh. Sorry. I….just got a feeling I'm being made fun of somewhere" Chandler said.

"You're always being made fun of, dude. You're you. Now pay attention man!" Joey said.

Despite being insulted, Chandler nodded. "Right"

The three adult men went back to playing their game

* * *

_*Monica's apartment*_

After giggling about Chandler, the girls turned another direction.

"So, Emily….how did you and Ross get back together so fast?" Monica asked. She had asked this question to continue the conversation but to also hope that Emily would make some sort of Freudian slip as to her true intentions.

Emily was surprised by the question but felt as the sister, it was natural for her to be curious about it.

Rachel leaned in closer. Even when she knew she wouldn't like this story very much, she was still curious.

"Well…..after he moved me into his suite, very lovely by the way, we started talking about why I cancelled my wedding" Emily said.

"Why did you cancel your wedding?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, it was because I realized I was still in love with Ross….I just kept thinking and thinking about him and no matter how I tried, I just couldn't stop myself. When I found out my true feelings, I had tried to cancel it for over a month but I could never get the courage to do it. It was just this week, the week before the wedding actually, that I told my parents and my fiancee the truth. They told me I was mental but I told them I would rather be mental than marry someone I didn't love" Emily said.

Rachel had to admit, she could relate to that….a lot actually.

"So I canceled my wedding and came here. Not exactly with their consent but I came anyway. Then I had asked if we could have a second chance. He initially said no but…..I don't know how to describe the rest. We started reliving old memories of ours especially one of us going down Central Park with Ben in a stroller. Strangers actually told us that me and Ross had a cute baby like I was his mother" Emily said, adding a chuckle at the last part.

Rachel's blood started to boil and said without thinking in that sort of Rachel jealous voice she had "You know I heard Ben's first words when I was with Ross"

"Oh, really? What did he say?" Emily asked.

"Oh you know…...just 'Hi'"Rachel said. That was a wonderful memory of hers but the way she told it, it sounded less than glamorous.

Oh, wow! That's really interesting. How'd it happen?" Emily asked.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story but in a nutshell, I wasn't really used to raising a baby but the more time I spent with him, the more I got used to the idea. When I was changing his diaper, I said 'Hi' to him and he said 'Hi' back" Rachel said, not wanting to go into the fact that was around the time she and Ross said 'I love you' to each other…..she missed those days.

"Oh well that's just wonderful. I wish I had been around that time to see it" Emily said.

"Yeah, it was great" Rachel said in a sort of sad and depressed manner.

Not noticing her sad response to the question, Emily continued with her story. "So anyway, we started talking about old memories and then….well….one thing led to another and then the next thing I knew….well….let's just say it was an eventful night for the both of us"

Rachel was drinking a cup of wine at the time. The more Emily talked, the more she drank. She grabbed the bottle and said "I need more wine. Does anyone need more wine?"

There was a mutual no among the group. Rachel just smiled and poured wine up to the near top of the glass.

"Thirsty, are you, Rachel?" Monica asked, noticing her best friend's need for wine at the moment.

"Oh. Yeah...just a long day at work, you know" Rachel said.

"I can imagine. I've had one of those days. Sometimes I'd just get home and tell my housekeeper to grab me a bottle of wine. Not even with a glass, just get me a bottle of wine" Emily said.

The ladies shared a laugh with each other, even Monica who was conspiring against her sincerely laughed at that.

Monica decided to go back in the Ross direction. "Emily, if you don't mind my asking…..why do you think you love my brother?"

Emily thought about the question for a moment. "Well….it's kind of hard to describe. It's just that when we first met, we just sort of clicked, like we could talk for hours without end on any given subject. He made me laugh, he listened to what I had to say and he was just so adorable in a way that could make any woman scream. The more I spent time with him, the more I wanted to spend even more time with him and the thought of him with anyone else just made me just itch...I guess that kind of explains why I acted the way I did after the wedding…."

"You guess?" Monica asked, suspiciously.

"Ok, it is the way I acted. I just wanted him all to myself and I just couldn't stop myself from making demand after demand from him so I could completely secure him from anyone else who could be a threat….and at the time, I felt that was Rachel" Emily said.

Rachel stopped drinking and gave a look at Emily, a sort of look that was half anger and half annoyance.

"I can't ever express how sorry I am for what I did, Rachel. I had no right to try to keep you from seeing him or Ross from seeing you. I was just a paranoid, jealous newlywed who couldn't stand losing her husband that she loved and at the end of the day, I almost lost the only man I ever really loved. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just name it and I'll do what I can to make it so" Emily said.

Rachel softened her expression as she heard this. The last time she saw Emily (or rather heard her over the speaker phone), she was bossy and demanding. This Emily seemed sincere and kind.

"Well...I guess it's alright and I know how easy it is to get emotional when your wedding doesn't go exactly as you planned" Rachel said.

"Well I let my emotions get in the way of my thinking and I shouldn't have so I just want to give my sincerest apologies not only to you Rachel but to all of you including Chandler and Joey. What you saw in my short marriage with Ross was not me at my best at all and….I'm hoping we can start over and possibly regain the friendship we had when Ross and I were together before our marriage" Emily said.

The 3 listened to the passionate plea. Monica had to admit she did seem sincere in her apology. If this was an act, then this woman should get an Academy Award because it was one heck of an act….maybe Emily wasn't what she appeared to be all those months ago.

"...I think that's possible" Monica said after a very long pause.

Emily's face brightened up. "Really?"

"Yeah….I think so" Monica said.

"Definitely" Phoebe said with a smile.

After listening to the Englishwoman's apology, Rachel hesitantly said "Of course"

"Oh, thank you all. You don't know how glad I am to hear all of you say that" Emily said.

Emily hugged Monica, who hugged back. Phoebe joined in then finally after a while and a little tug from Phoebe, Rachel joined in as well.

This was the first time Emily had any tender moment with the group ever. Not even when she was with Ross those many months ago had she shared a moment like this with any friend of Ross' before. She was glad to share it here and now.

The rest of the evening went on smoothly with them talking about their friends, family, jobs and of course their love lives (Rachel's being non-existent for the time being). They were really on their way for all of them to become real friends

* * *

_*Ross' apartment, the next morning*_

It turned out when you invited people like Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani to a nice place like Ross' suite, you could expect the next day for it to not be so nice anymore. Whiskey bottles were scattered across the floor as well as Solo cups and stains from spills. The Entertainment area of the room was a mess as well with Chinese food and pizza boxes scattered across the tables and floor. The fridge filled with junk food had been raided as well. This was going to cost Ross Geller quite a bit…..

The three men in question were passed out cold around the entertainment center from partying all night. They watched sports, drank, played video games, drank, ate while drinking, oh and drinking some more (just in case you didn't catch it the first, second or third time).

Chandler Bing woke from the couch and groaned. He had a big hangover. What a night….

He grudgingly got up and went to pour himself a glass of water and drank the whole thing like a dying person drinking medicine. He looked around and saw Joey and Ross, sleeping like babies. He took a good look at Joey then at Ross' bedroom door. He widened his eyes. He was having such a good time last night, he had almost forgot the main reason why he was here.

Chandler quickly (but silently) moved towards Joey and nudged him. The sleeping man child swiped at him. Chandler rolled his eyes and nudged him again.

"Joey…." Chandler whispered.

Joey groaned. "Not today, mom, I'll get a job tomorrow"

Chandler rolled his eyes. That'll be the day. After another failed attempt of nudging his friend, he grabbed a nearby pillow and smacked it across his face. Joey fell out of the couch but quickly regained himself as he shot straight up and looked Chandler in the eye with an angry look on his face.

"Hey what's the big id-" Joey tried to yell before Chandler covered his mouth and pointed to Ross who was still passed out.

Joey looked and saw the unconscious scientist and Chandler pointed to Ross' bedroom.

Joey suddenly remembered the mission and nodded. He got up and went to Chandler to main bedroom. They opened it and walked in while their friend was quietly unaware of the events around him.

They looked around the bedroom. They walked around the room until they found Emily's luggage.

Chandler slowly unzipped the luggage until it was open. He suddenly started digging in not finding anything but blouses, pants, makeup, bras and panties.

"You find anything?" Joey asked.

"...No. Just girl stuff. Nothing personal" Chandler asked.

"Hm…...hey here's her purse. Maybe there's something in here" Joey said, grabbing her purse and unzipped it. He started looking through it.

Chandler stood by Joey and started taking a peek inside it as well.

"...Anything?" Chandler asked.

After looking extensively, Joey could say that there wasn't anything of interest to either of them. Just her wallet, English money, photos of her and family members. There wasn't anything that showed any true colors she might have.

Chandler suddenly noticed something. A sort of book. He reached in for it and took it out.

"What's this?" He asked.

Joey looked at it and suddenly got a curious expression on his face. "I don't know. I never saw that"

Chandler started looking through it. It was a diary of some sort. It was dated and it was in the first person of Emily talking about stuff happening in her life. He suddenly a light bulb flashed in his head and started looking through recent entries.

"What are you doing?" Joey asked.

"You'll see" Chandler said, flipping through the pages and started reading. About 5 minutes later, he smiled.

"Bingo" He said.

"What?" Joey asked before Chandler passed him the diary. Joey started reading it too and after a while, he smiled too. He gave Chandler a fist bump.

"Ding dong, the witch is dead" Joey said.

"Alright, you have the camera?" Chandler asked.

Joey suddenly started giving a worried look and started roaming through his pockets…..this was a problem.

"No…..please tell me you didn't forget it…." Chandler said.

"I….I couldn't have. I mean I don't think I did….I remember buying one yesterday" Joey said.

"Ok, well retrace your steps. Where did you last see it? If it's here in the suite, we can make this work" Chandler said.

"Alright. I bought it at the drug store…..I went for a walk through the park…..oh" Joey trailed, widening his eyes.

"'Oh'? What 'oh'? Why are you 'oh'ing?" Chandler asked.

"...I ran into this hot single mom….she noticed the camera and asked if I could take a few pictures of her" Joey said.

Chandler breathed in and out with pure anger in his breath. "You….fucking….idiot"

"I'm sorry, Chandler. You should have seen her though, man. She was H-O-T" Joey said in his trademark grin.

Chandler flicked his head with his index finger.

"Ow!" Joey said.

"Alright…..we're just going to have to take this diary ourselves and….we'll just have to show it to him when the time is right" Chandler said.

"Isn't that illegal though? It's stealing" Joey said.

"It's a diary. What's the most they can do? A $200 fine? At most? This is for the greater good" Chandler said.

"Alright...if you say so" Joey said.

Chandler quickly put the diary in his pocket and as quick as they could, they started putting everything back in place.

"...Chandler? Joey?" A familiar voice called out from outside the room.

"Shit" Chandler whispered. They started putting the last of Emily's things away and they went out the door to Ross looking around for them. They quietly closed the door and looked at him.

"Good morning" They said in unison. Ross turned and looked at them oddly.

"Good morning….what are you doing by my bedroom door?" Ross asked.

"Oh...you know...we were looking for the bathroom" Chandler said, coming up with a story as fast as he could.

"...The bathroom's right there….didn't you go inside it last night?" Ross asked.

"Well….yeah but you...last night man" Joey, grinning and chuckling.

"...I guess so…..you were going to go at the same time?" Ross asked, noticing the two of them looking for the bathroom together.

"Uh….well….yes. We've gotten more accustomed to going to the bathroom together more often since you've been away" Chandler said.

"...Right. Ok. Well. Anyway, can you two help me pick up this mess?" Ross asked, picking up whiskey bottles.

"Hey, can't the hotel keeper take care of that?" Chandler asked.

"No. Those cost money and quite frankly with the girls with my credit card along with you drinking 5 gallons of whiskey and eating mountains of pizza and fried rice, I don't really intend on spending any more than I already am this week" Ross said with a stern look.

"Right...sorry about that, man. It's just that it's been so long since we've spent real time with you" Joey said.

"Yeah, well...to be honest, I enjoyed it too. It was fun….and by the way, thank you guys for being nice to Emily yesterday. I know you guys don't exactly have the best feelings for her right now but I appreciate you making an effort" Ross said.

Chandler and Joey looked at each other with a somewhat guilty look before Chandler said "It's our pleasure"

"Yeah….she's alright" Joey said, knowing full and well he felt the exact opposite of her right now.

They started helping Ross pick up the apartment. They had what they needed now. Now it was time to enact to show Ross what kind of person Emily Waltham really was…...or so they thought at least.


	5. Chapter 5

It took 2 hours to clean up that entire mess. Ross made a mental note to himself that the next time the 3 men wanted to 'go wild', they should do it in the comfort of outside Ross' living area.

After picking up Ben from his mother and father, Ross, along Joey and Chandler, went back to Monica's Apartment. They found the four women eating breakfast. They were eating and giggling with each other. Ross had to smile for a bit until he saw the pile of shopping bags in the living room area. There were a lot of bags….

"Guys!" Monica said and hugged each one of them. She slipped Chandler a kiss on the lips when Ross wasn't looking. She also gave Ben, who was in Ross' arms, a kiss as well.

Ben giggled. "Hi, Monica"

Monica fumed a little bit. She took Ben out of Ross' arms and took him to the couch.

She turned to Ross with an angry look on her face. This caused the man in question to get a confused and slightly concerned/scared look on his face. She marched over to him and dragged him aside to a corner of the room.

"Ow! That hurt" Ross whined as she let go of his arm.

"Why does Ben keep calling me Monica?" Monica asked.

Ross looked at his sister oddly. "...Maybe because it's the name you were given with when you were born? Mom and dad have the birth certificate to prove it"

"Stop it with that! You know what I mean. Why doesn't Ben call me 'Aunt' like he does with Rachel, Phoebe and even Emily?!" Monica said to him with a crazed look on her face.

Ross was still a bit confused for a second before realizing what his sister was trying to say. "Oh. Right. I see. Monica, the reason I never told Ben to call you 'Aunt' was because I didn't want him to think of you as just an 'Aunt'"

"Huh?" Monica asked, confused.

"Think about it. If I ask Ben to call Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebe, Emily and other people Aunt or Uncle and did the same for you, you'd just be in a pile of Aunts and Uncles of no real significance to the other. When he gets older, he'll think of you more like a big sister who he can talk too about all sorts of things. He'll talk to you about school, relationships and other stuff kids don't really like discussing with their parents. While you may not see it now, you'll be closer to Ben then any of the people behind us combined" Ross said.

Monica sat and thought for a moment. He didn't tell Ben to call her Aunt…..so they would be closer? It sounded weird but the way he told it, it made sense.

"You didn't really think I never told him to call you 'Aunt' was because I never cared enough to tell him, did you?" Ross asked.

"...Uh….well…." Monica said.

Ross smiled and moved his sister closer. He gave her a long kiss on the head.

"Mon….we may not always see eye to eye on everything but at the end of the day, I love you. I would never forget about you. Ever" Ross said.

Monica let out a smile and she hugged her big brother. After a few seconds, they parted.

"Now….I have a question for you if you don't mind?" Ross asked.

"Yeah, big bro?" Monica asked.

"What the hell are those over there?" Ross asked, pointing to the large group of shopping bags around the TV area, his face turning from happy to angry in a matter of milliseconds.

Monica looked at the shopping bags then looked back at her angry brother.

"...Oh….I am so sorry, Ross. I just couldn't help it. Please don't make me give them back. Pleeeeease…." Monica said. She gave him those pouting eyes Ross grew up with and just couldn't say no to.

Ross changed in many different ways during his time across the country but there were a few things that didn't change about him including his ability to be suckered.

The man gave a long sigh and said "Fine but you're not using my credit card ever again. In fact, I'll take it back now"

Monica reached into her wallet and got out Ross' credit card. She passed it back to her brother who just cringed at how much those clothes must have cost. He would have major interest to pay back, no doubt about that.

Monica went back to the group, feeling satisfied with herself. She was then approached by Joey and Chandler who had big grins on their faces.

"We found it, Mon. We found the thing we need to rid ourselves of Emily" Chandler whispered to her.

"Listen….guys….I think we need to call this thing off" Monica said.

"What?!" Both of them exclaimed which caused the entire room to look in their direction. They both gave totally not guilty at all smiles and just dismissed it as if it never happened. Soon after, everyone went back to their daily routines.

The group of three went to a private area of the room.

"Are you crazy? Monica, you know what this woman is capable of" Chandler said.

"Chandler, you should have seen her last night. This Emily is a completely different person….I think she truly loves Ross" Monica said.

"Monica, she's just messing with your head" Joey said.

"No! I mean it…..she's changed and I don't think we should go through with this anymore or else people are going to get hurt" Monica said.

Chandler and Joey looked at each other once more and then looked back at Monica.

"Monica, I love you but you are completely wrong. She hasn't changed and what we have proves it. She's just using witchy powers on you like she's doing to Ross" Chandler said.

"Just what do you have anyway?" Monica asked.

Chandler looked smug as he pulled out Emily's diary and flipped through it for her. Monica, realizing the situation, gasped with pure shock and anger.

"You stole her diary?!" Monica asked.

"...Well….steal is an ugly word…." Chandler said, drawling his voice.

"We prefer the term….appropriate" Joey said.

"That's still stealing and quite frankly, I don't think this is right anymore. Just look how happy Ross is right now" Monica said.

The three of them turned to see Emily and Ross kissing each repeatedly other at the kitchen area of the apartment, both with big grins on their faces.

"Do you really want to take that away from him just so you can prove a point?" Monica asked.

Joey and Chandler looked back at Ross and Emily….they did seem happy….and who knows? Maybe Emily was sincere in her wanting Ross back. Maybe they had her all wrong.

"...Well….I guess not. Maybe we were being a bit too paranoid" Chandler said, looking guiltily at the floor.

"Yeah….I guess Emily's alright" Joey said, acting pretty much the same.

"Good. Now give me the diary" Monica said.

After passing her the diary, Monica opened a desk drawer and put in inside and closed it.

"Now whatever you did manage to find in this diary is in the past. Right now is the present and in the present, we are not going to judge people based on past actions. Got it?" Monica asked in a sort of motherly tone.

"Got it" Both Chandler and Joey said in unison.

They rejoined the group who was in happy chatters with the other.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Ross asked.

"Well, we were hoping we'd just have a day to ourselves together. None of us have to work today and we want to get the group back together" Chandler said.

Ross smiled. "Well that sounds like fun. What do you have in mind?"

* * *

_*Later that day, around 5 in the afternoon*_

With Ben along, they didn't spend that much time outdoors. They only went out for a few walks through now and then. The group spent the majority of the day playing games with Ben, playing board games,watching movies (Kid friendly movies for Ben) and just talking with one another. Ross had to admit, this was probably the most fun he had since he had been back in New York. It was a wonderful feeling, it was like actually being part of the group again, like nothing ever happened.

At the moment, Ben was taking a nap and the group was chatting about each other's childhood. Emily grew up semi-wealthy in London. It turned out her mother had died early in her youth which is why she had a stepmother instead of an actual mother but she loved her just the same even though they could be snobby and workaholics. The group was really trying their best to get to know Emily for the first real time since they've known her. She really was the fun loving girl Ross always made her out to be as well as Friendly and easy going. It was easy to see why Ross fell for her. Rachel herself had to admit that.

Ross and Emily were side by side with each other on the sofa.

"So Ross…..tell me about your childhood" Emily said.

Ross shifted his eyes towards his girlfriend. "Uh….Emily. You know my childhood. Monica told you everything about me at your 'going away party', remember?"

"Well I know that….I still can't believe you used to dress up like an old woman and host little tea parties with stuffed animals" Emily said, giggling.

Everyone gave a little chuckle at Ross' expense who just sat and smiled that just spelled out anger,frustration and embarrassment.

"Remember the song you used to sing while doing it? 'I am Bea, I drink tea won't you dance around with me?'" Monica sang as the group laughed harder.

"That's a really embarrassing story, dude" Chandler said with an open wide grin.

"I'm sorry. How many nipples do you have again, Chandler?" Ross asked, smiling.

The group laughed again while Emily looked at Chandler oddly. That was something she could've gone without knowing.

"Hey, I had that removed, you jerk" Chandler said.

Deciding to move on with the conversation of childhoods, Emily said "Anyway….I know some things but I don't know much about your teenage years. What were you like then?"

Ross looked straight ahead with a mock puzzled look on his head. He put his finger on his lip as he pretended to look deep in thought.

"Nope, nothing comes to mind" Ross said after a little bit, acting completely baffled at the thought of his teenage years.

"Oh come on, Ross. Don't you have a photo album of some sort of your teenage years?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, we do. You should have seen him, Emily. The biggest geek in high school" Monica said with a big grin.

"Total geek. He had a major crush on me back then" Rachel said with a big grin on her face. Although she wanted to make peace with Emily, she still loved Ross and like every woman that was in a relationship with Ross, she felt a bit threatened by her.

"Oh, you went to school with Ross?" Emily asked, skipping over the whole crush thing.

"Yeah, I did. He was a few grades above me but I was Monica's best friend actually so I would see him all the time when I visited his home" Rachel said.

"True….but you barely even acknowledged my existence back then" Ross said.

Rachel opened her mouth but no words came out. Those were completely true. She cursed her past self that was only concerned with money and popularity. She decided to stay quiet for right now.

"So anyway, you have a photo album?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, we do" Monica said.

"Well come on then. Let me see it!" Emily said.

"No! Not at all. I think you people humiliated me enough already" Ross said.

"Oh come on, darling. Please? I promise I'll be good" Emily said.

Ross thought about it for a moment before saying "Nope. Sorry"

"No! Let me see it, Ross!...I'll do anything you want" Emily said. She gave a bit of a suggestive smile.

Ross gave a smile as the group groaned at the sight, especially Rachel.

"Alright, just stop being gross and get the album so we can all laugh at you" Joey said.

Ross rolled his eyes while went to the drawer where the photo albums were kept. Joey and Chandler widened their eyes and saw that he was headed for the drawer where they were keeping Emily's diary.

The 2 got up all of a sudden and ran to the drawer to block him from getting into it.

"Uh, guys. Get out of the way please" Ross said, annoyed.

He tried to push them out of the way but they just stayed in place, not going anywhere.

Ross sighed. "I assume there's a reason for this?"

"Well….you know we've seen it so many times, we could just tell Emily what you were like" Chandler said, coming up with the lie as quick as he could.

"Yeah, it's getting old man. No one wants to see your afro" Joey said.

This got Emily even more interested. She definitely wanted to see this photo album now.

"You had an afro?" Emily said, trying her best not to burst out laughing.

"...well…" Ross said.

"Oh come on, Joey! Chandler! I want to see it! Come on!" Emily said.

"Well...alright. Just let us get it while Ross keeps some distance" Chandler said.

Ross looked at his best friend, confused as hell but he just shrugged. He moved a few inches back while Joey and Chandler opened the drawer. They moved Emily's diary as out of sight as they could…..however, this proved futile because the paleontologist could already see what was there.

"What's that?" Ross asked, noticing the tiny black book.

"Huh?" Joey said, confused.

"What's what?" Chandler asked, pretending to know nothing of what he's talking about.

"That little black book right there" Ross said, pointing down at the book.

"Oh, that? It's nothing. Less than nothing, really" Joey said.

"Well, it can't be that much nothing. This where Monica keeps all of our childhood memories" Ross said. He tried moving around them but they just wouldn't budge.

Ross sighed. "Guys, this is getting ridiculous. Can I please see it?"

"Uh, no" Joey said.

"Why not?" Ross asked.

"Because, uh...it's Monica's diary and it's private, you know" Chandler said. As Ross turned to Monica, she nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I just got it. I don't want any big brothers snooping around in my private life" Monica said, with a nervous tone in her voice that thank God no one seemed to notice.

"Oh….so it's your diary?" Ross asked with a sly smile on his face.

"...Yeah. It's mine...so please leave it alone" Monica said.

"Oh, well I guess if it's your private possession then I guess I should-" Ross stopped before he moved his arm quickly around the 2 men guarding the drawer and grabbed the black book from inside the drawer. He started running around the room, running from Joey and Chandler who seemed desperate to get that book back from him.

"Ross, give that back! That isn't yours!" Monica said.

"Oh, come on, sis. I just want to read a little bit of your diary. What's going on in the life of Monica Geller?" Ross asked. He opened it to a page where a corner of the page was folded and gave a big smile.

"Ooh, a bookmarked page. Seems really important" Ross said. He stopped running as Chandler and Joey looked tired of running and practically collapsed, giving up. They really needed to start working out more often.

Emily took a good look at the book and she widened her eyes both in shock and fear….that was her journal that she kept in her purse. How did that get here?

 _"It's a few months now from the wedding"_ Ross read from the journal. His eyebrows started to rise in confusion. Monica wasn't getting married (As far as he knew) and this wasn't her handwriting. He continued reading.  
_  
"I'm hoping this marriage will get Ross Geller out of my head for good. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible so I can move on with my life. For some godforsaken reason, I just can't stop thinking about him no matter how many times I remind myself how he embarrassed me at my own wedding months ago. Maybe I'm still suffering from a bit of an aftershock or maybe I'm still angry with him but I'm hoping that by marrying Collin, the very person I left so I could date him and eventually marry him for a short time, that I can hurt him just the way he hurt me. I won't rest until Ross Geller feels as much pain as he possibly can. It's the very least he deserves for what he did to me. Anyway, I have to head out now. I have to go look at wedding dresses with my step-mum now. It'll be a wedding like none other. I may just invite him just to stick the knife in some more,_

 _Emily"_  
  
Ross read the last words of the entry in the diary and just stood, shell-shocked at what he just read.

Emily buried her face in her hands. She wrote that months before she realized her true feelings for Ross and when she was still angry about him over the wedding and their short divorce. She didn't know at the time that she didn't mean a single word of it.

Ross finally looked up after the longest time at Emily.

"Emily…..what…..what is this?" Ross asked.

Emily got up and went up to him and grabbed him by his side and hugged it.

"Ross, I'm so sorry I wrote that. I was so upset at the time, I wasn't thinking" Emily said.

"I mean…..is this all a joke? Am I some British television show where you prank people in some horrible, mean spirited way?" Ross asked, his voice rising.

"No! It's not like that all, Ross! I came here to be with you. Ross...I love you" Emily said.

"But I don't understand, Emily. If you love me, then how can you write this?" Ross asked, half with anger and half with sadness.

"I was still mad at you, Ross! I didn't know how I really felt about you. I was only getting married to Collin because I was angry at you and I wanted to get back at you" Emily said.

"...That's why your cousin told me you were getting married? Because you wanted me to feel bad?" Ross asked.

"...Well….I…." Emily stammered.

Ross grabbed her wrists and made her look him in the eye.

"Emily…...did you tell your cousin to tell me you were getting married again just to get back at me?" Ross asked.

After a long pause and everyone waiting for an answer, Emily, with tears rolling down her face, finally whispered "Yes"

Ross looked at her, emotionless. He let go of her wrists and just stared at her with that expressionless look on his face.

"Ross…..I'm so sorry….I wasn't thinking" Emily said, placing her arms around his waist and moving close to him. Ross didn't respond to this. He just stared at the ground, his face not changing a bit.

After a few minutes of silence, he removed Emily's arms from around his waist and looked at her in the eye.

"Emily…...I don't know what to think right now…..I feel like I've just been stomped on….I need some time to myself" Ross said. He looked to the group and said his goodbyes then left the room, leaving Emily to shed even more tears and for the group to look in deep shock as to what just happened. 3 people in particular looked explicitly guilty.

After crying for a good few minutes, she turned to group with a confused look on her face.

"How…..how did my journal end up in that drawer?" Emily asked.

The group looked at each other. They knew the answer to that question but they didn't feel good about answering.

Emily got the message either way. "...you planted it there, didn't you?"

"Well…...it's not exactly like that" Chandler said.

"Oh. Really? Well then please explain to me what this is like because it looks like to me you stole my journal and placed it there because you knew it wouldn't do me and Ross any favors" Emily said with a sneer.

"Well….it's just that it's been so long and we didn't know if we could trust you and we felt like what you wrote showed your true colors" Joey said, trying to justify what they did.

"Really? Isn't that nice? And here I thought we were actually building a relationship between all of us. I actually felt like I could be a part of your group…..I guess not then" Emily said.

"Emily, I'm so sorry about this. I didn't have anything to do with this, I swear" Phoebe said, trying to defend herself.

"Neither did I. We tried to actually get them to stop" Rachel said.

"I can't say I actually believe that but even if that is true, you still knew about it and still participated in it in one way. Either way, it doesn't matter. You all got what you wanted. Ross officially doesn't want anything to do with me anymore and in doing that, you hurt not only me but him as well. I hope you're all happy" Emily said. She turned and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door on her way out.

Phoebe turned and looked at the group that caused all this, pure frustration was written all across her face.

"Are you satisfied now? This is exactly what I thought might happen. You didn't help anyone, you just hurt people….all just so you could prove a point. Now no one is happy" Phoebe said.

Chandler, Joey and Monica all looked to the ground, looking guilty.

"You said you were doing this to help him but did you see the way he looked when he read that diary….did it look like you helped him in any way?" Phoebe asked.

Eventually, the group of 3 got around to shaking their heads no.

"...Well at least you acknowledge it...but I don't think that's going to do anything for Ross. Anyway, I'm going home for the night. I've seen enough tonight" Phoebe said. She left the apartment.

The door to the guest bedroom opened and Ben came out. He looked around and saw some people missing.

"Monica….where daddy, Aunt Emily and Aunt Phoebe?" He asked.

Everyone looked at each other before Monica went over to Ben and said "...they had to go do something, Ben but they'll be back soon"

To be honest, she didn't know whether that was a truth or lie….which in retrospect made it a lie in and of itself but there really wasn't any way to explain what happened to someone like Ben at his age. She went over to comfort the 4 year old boy while the others shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

Rachel looked at the door. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty about this whole thing. She didn't know why she felt this way. It was Monica, Chandler and Joey that orchestrated this whole thing but she didn't know. Maybe it was because of her past experiences with Ross' other girlfriends that made her feel responsible or maybe it was because she didn't do anything to prevent this. Either way, that didn't matter right now. It was time for her to make her move on Ross.


	6. Chapter 6

Over the next few days, things weren't exactly peachy for everybody. Emily had moved her stuff out of Ross' suite. A note was placed on his kitchen counter, apologizing for everything from the wedding to the diary entry and that she would be leaving for home that Saturday so he never had to worry about seeing her again.

That didn't make Ross feel any better. As a matter of fact, it did quite the opposite. He was depressed and it showed as he even went back to saying his classic sad 'hi' whenever he greeted his friends. The group tried doing everything in their power to reverse this from taking him to the bar, going to Central Perk like they always did before he moved and even taking him to a strip club where the ladies were just crazy about him (Probably due to the fact that Joey and Chandler had told them about his newly founded wealth).

Ross knew what they were trying to do and while he did appreciate the gesture, he was still sad. He didn't really understand why though. It seemed as if he got his revenge on Emily for what she did to him those many months ago but even with this 'victory', it was still very apparent that he was still not feeling his best.

The group felt guilty for what they did (Even Phoebe who had little to do with this whole thing) and wanted somehow to make it up to him but they just didn't know how to accomplish this. Spending quality time with him didn't work, buying him booze didn't work, even ladies who took their tops off right in front of him didn't work! None of them knew what to do…...at least, almost none of them.

Indeed, Rachel Greene felt as if she was the one responsible for this whole debacle so she felt like it was her duty to fix it. Ross was feeling unloved at the moment so the solution in her mind was to show him that he was wrong. And the way she was going to achieve that was quite simple: Get back together with him.

It didn't seem that crazy to Rachel. After all, he did say he loved her before he left and despite the little encounter he had with Emily, that must have meant something. He just had to be reminded of what they had before they broke up…twice.

On that Friday evening after the group had parted for the night, Rachel went home and dressed in the green dress that she wore at Ross' black tie event years ago. It made him 'wow' that night and she was hoping it would 'wow' him tonight. After which she took a cab to the Emerson resort.

 

* * *

_*Ross' suite*_

Ross Geller was watching a Basketball Game with a beer bottle in his hand that he got from the bar. He was wearing sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt which displayed his biceps that could make any woman swoon. He sighed a long and sad sigh. Last week, he was so excited to get on a plane and come back to New York to get back together with his family and now he couldn't wait to go back to California. He didn't know but for some reason, relationships and him just didn't click together. Maybe he was meant to die alone and this was some cruel game that God was playing with him just so that he could amuse himself in heaven. That's certainly what it seemed like whether it was accurate or not.

When he was done with his beer, he went to the trash and threw it with 4 others he'd finished that day. He gave a long belch that made feel disgusted with himself. He was about to get another until he heard a knock on the door. He closed his eyes and silent thanked the Lord that he had a reason to stop. He walked to the door and opened it to reveal Rachel in her light green dress that he loved that night.

Ross gave a little smile. "Hello, Rachel….well look at you"

Rachel smiled and looked down at her dress. "Yeah….I decided to dress up a little and come over for a visit"

"Well, you look great….is that the dress you wore at my black-tie event at the museum I used to work at?" Ross asked.

"Aw, you remembered" Rachel said, kissing his cheek.

Ross felt warm at the feeling of her lips touching his cheek. "Of course I do. That was the night I almost drank chicken fat"

After sharing a laugh, Ross invited her in. Rachel took a while to take in the view.

"Wow….this is certainly an upgrade from the places we stayed at before you moved" Rachel said.

"Well, that's the benefit of having 2 jobs that don't pay chump change" Ross said.

Rachel took a seat on the couch and patted the spot next to her, gesturing him to join her.

After sitting down next to her, they gave a smile to each other and shared a moment of silence.

"So…..how are you feeling?" Rachel asked. She realized that was probably not the best question to ask at the time but it was the first thing that popped up.

"Well….to be honest, not so good. I honestly thought that I could actually have a second chance at one of my many failed relationships but just like always, it fell apart. I guess that's just a sign that it's time for me to just give it up and just accept my single status" Ross said.

Rachel frowned. "Oh come on, Ross. Don't say that. I know it seems bad now but it'll get better"

Ross stood up and started walking around. He started to get frustrated as shown by the speed of his pacing.

"When, though? I'm always told 'It'll be ok. You'll find someone else' but no matter who I find, it always ends up in the gutter. Carol, Julie, Bonnie, Emily…...you" Ross said, trailing a bit at the end and giving Rachel a side glance.

Rachel gave a sad look at the pacing Ross before she got up and walked towards him. He stopped in his place when she stood in front of him. She grabbed him by his cheeks and brought him close…..some would consider it a little too close

"Ross…...you are a sweet man and you don't deserve anything less than love and affection from everyone around you. I swear there is someone out there for you that will love and cherish you the way you will love and cherish her…..and that's actually what I came down here to talk with you about" Rachel said.

Ross looked at her for quite a while before he gave a response. "...Really?"

"Yes" Rachel said. She let go of his face and gently dragged him back to the couch. They sat back down while Rachel was still holding his hand. They got close with their knees practically touching.

"...Ross. Do you remember the night before you left when we had that big going away party for you?" Rachel asked.

"Yes I do. It was very kind of all of you to do that" Ross said.

"Yeah, it was but….do you remember what you told me before you left the apartment?" Rachel asked.

After a few moments, Ross did indeed remember what he said and suddenly got the message. "...Oh"

Rachel, not exactly pleased by his hesitation or his response, continued.

"...You told me that you loved me and I still love you. I know you're going through hard times right now but I really want to give us another chance. I think that would be good for the both of us" Rachel said.

Ross blinked repeatedly as he turned his head and stared at the wall. This situation was becoming quite familiar to him. He didn't know what to say and the fact that he wasn't saying anything was quite worrying to the woman in the room.

"So what do you think, Ross?" Rachel asked.

"I...I don't know, Rachel. I don't really feel that good about relationships right now" Ross said.

"Ross, you said that the last time I asked you that" Rachel said, frustrated.

"Well, I'm sorry, Rachel. I had time to think about this in California and I thought I was ready to get into a relationship again" Ross said.

"...Just not with me" Rachel said, sadly. She got up from the couch and crossed her arms.

Ross stood and grabbed Rachel by the waist. He made him face her.

"Rachel Greene, you listen to me. You are a beautiful, kind and loving woman that every man dreams about. If I had to do my life over again, I would choose to have the relationship we had in a heartbeat. The time I had spent with you was probably one of the most amazing times I've had with a woman ever" Ross said.

"Then why are you resisting this, Ross? Why can't you see that we were meant for each other?" Rachel asked.

Ross looked at her deep in the eye as he slowly breathed in and out.

"Rachel…...I do love you...I do. It's just that…." Ross tried to say before Rachel interrupted him.

"You love me as a friend" Rachel said with tears in her eyes.

"No! No….It's not like that...at least I don't think it is" Ross said, eyes moving to the ground.

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know. Rachel, we've said those words to each other before but we were young and didn't have any clue what we were saying to each other and we ended up breaking up and being heartbroken….two times. When I say I love you to someone in the way you want me to, I want to mean it" Ross said.

Rachel stood silent for a moment. "...So you don't know if you really love me?"

"...Well...I guess not. I said those words every day to Carol and we were together for over 10 years, 4 years of dating, 7 years of marriage. I ended up divorced and that nearly destroyed me…..If I say that again to someone and it turns out not to be true…...I don't know what I'll do" Ross said. He went to a chair near the kitchen area and sat down. He buried his face in his hand.

Rachel looked at the man with sympathy and went to the chair he was sitting at. She knelt down in front of him.

"...I didn't know it was that serious" Rachel said.

Ross removed his hands from his face and looked at the ground beneath him. "When I was a teenager and I saw men with their wives and kids, that was my biggest dream in life: To raise a family with someone I could call my wife and not just any wife, a wife that would love me even though I wasn't the best looking guy or the most charming guy. I was close to having that with Carol and I thought I could have that with Emily but the more life goes on and the shorter my relationships get, the more I'm convinced I'm not meant for anyone"

Rachel listened to the story and thought it was beautiful. She even had a few tears forming in her eyes as he poured his heart out to her.

She moved her hands to his face and lifted his head up. She gave him a deep kiss on the lips. Ross widened his eyes. He knew he shouldn't be doing this to her but he couldn't help himself and kissed her back. The kiss went on for minutes as they kissed each other with a deep passion.

Rachel's hands moved down to Ross' strong arms and took a good feel of them. This man was definitely lifting weights. She moved her arms to the bottom of his shirt and slowly, she took it off (With him helping of course). Rachel took a good look at his toned body and smiled. Rachel likey….

"Rach, are you sure we should be-" Ross asked before Rachel again smashed her lips on his.

"Shhh! No words, sweetie. Just you. Me. And a magical evening all to ourselves" Rachel whispered after parting for a short moment. They went back to kissing, tongues intertwining with each other as if they were the last two people on earth and were supposed to repopulate the human race.

The rest of the night really speaks for itself. If anyone was inside the room, they would probably describe what they would have seen as the most arousing porno movie they ever saw.

 

* * *

_*The next morning*_

Rachel woke up and found that Ross wasn't there with her on the bed but also saw that she was naked. She smiled as she got up and put on the bathrobes that the resort offered to guests. When she exited the room, she found Ross working on his laptop on the resort desk. She slowly crept up behind him and placed her arms around his chest.

"Hey you" She whispered in his ear. She could see him grin from behind his head.

"Hey" He said as he continued working. Rachel started rocking him left and right from his chair.

"So whatcha working on?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, just a report I have to turn in next Friday for the museum" Ross said.

"Really? They make you work on your vacation?" Rachel asked.

"Not really. This is a project I'm supposed to be assigned when I return on Monday. I'm just getting ahead of the game so I'll have less work to do" Ross said.

"No rest for the weary, huh?" Rachel asked.

"Not in my line of business, I'm afraid" Ross said.

After a brief silence, Rachel gave a sly grin. "So….last night was amazing, tiger"

"Yeah….it really was" Ross said.

"You've definitely improved since the last time we did anything like that" Rachel said.

Ross looked at her with a playful smile. "Really? And just what was I doing wrong before?"

Rachel suddenly looked at him with a slightly worried look on her face. "Well….no! I didn't mean it like that. You were good whenever we had sex, it's just that you….you're…"

As she tried to figure out how to end that statement, Ross held a finger to her lips with a smile .

"It's alright. I know I wasn't exactly the best of all lovers out there. I was just glad you decided to go out with a schmuck like me" Ross said.

Rachel turned the chair around and she sat on Ross' lap. "You're no schmuck, Ross Geller. You're a dream man for any woman out there"

She leaned her head closer to Ross' chest and Ross laid his chin on Rachel's head. They stayed in that position for several minutes until Rachel moved her head up and kissed him on the lips.

"I love you, Ross" She said as she repeatedly kissed him.

"...I love you too, Emily" Ross said with his eyes closed, practically oblivious to what he was saying until he just said it.

Rachel pulled away from Ross and he suddenly opened his eyes with a shocked look on his face.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry" He said. As he said his, Rachel's palm suddenly came in contact with Ross' cheek with a slap. She stood up and stormed towards the living room area and sat down on the sofa.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry I said that. I wasn't thinking" Ross said, walking towards her.

"Clearly" Rachel said as she just stared straight, barely even acknowledging what he was saying to her.

Ross sat down next to her and pleaded with her to talk with him but she just stood still, looking at the black television screen as he kept begging for her to forgive him.

When it was becoming quite clear that this was going nowhere, Ross sighed in frustration and went to the kitchen counter.

"...You see this is what I mean when I say I don't do well with relationships. There's always one thing that just destroys any relationship I have" Ross said.

"Are you really insinuating that you're the victim here? You're the one who just humiliated me. I thought you loved me" Rachel said, turning her head towards Ross.

"I do, Rachel….I don't know why I just said Emily's name. All I've been thinking about for the last few hours has been you and nothing but you" Ross said. He buried his hands in his face. The man was obviously filled with confusion and regret.

This scene caused Rachel (For whatever reason) to fill with sympathy for the man before her. It was obvious he had wanted all his relationships to work out but for some reason, they never did whether it be because of a stupid mistake or just bad luck.

As the minutes went by, a thought….a theory, really, appeared in Rachel's head. It was a theory that made her just weep inside but she felt like it was a theory that was more likely true rather than false. She got up and slowly walked towards Ross, whose face was still buried in his hands.

When she got close enough, she tilted his head up and looked deep into his eyes.

"Ross….maybe the reason why you just said Emily's name instead of mine was because…...you love her" Rachel said.

Ross looked at her with a confused look. "...Love Emily?"

"Yes, Ross….you love Emily. Ross, when you said my name at yours and Emily's wedding, that can be explained by a number of things including the fact that maybe you were just so shocked to see me there so suddenly and you couldn't me out of your head but Ross….there's no other explanation for what we had last night for you to say Emily's name other than the fact that you love her" Rachel explained.

Ross looked at Rachel's eyes as she told him this and didn't say a word for several minutes. He just stayed there in that spot as he considered the thought. He always felt like a new person around Emily and he never had a relationship like he had with her. They even went to Vermont for their first date and that just didn't happen between people unless there was something more than a cheap one night stand.

"...But….that diary-" Ross tried to say.

"Ross, she wrote that entry months ago when she didn't know how she really felt about you. Don't you remember the part where she said she kept thinking about you? That's because she was really miserable inside without you…...It was because she really and deeply loved you" Rachel said.

Ross looked ahead and thought about it. He was devastated when he had heard Emily was getting married again so soon. He didn't really suppose why he had been considering the fact that he broke his agreement with her to never see Rachel again and in a way was the one who ended their marriage. Despite that, he just couldn't stop thinking about her no matter how hard he tried.

"Ross...why did you move to San Diego?" Rachel asked.

Ross looked at her confusedly. "...You know why. I couldn't find an apartment here and I felt like my life here was crumbling to pieces"

"Ross, you could've found anyone else and you could've found any apartment if you really wanted to, you just chose not to. You wanted to leave because you wanted to escape the constant reminder that you lost the person that you loved and try to move on…..it obviously didn't work as well as you hoped" Rachel said.

"That's ridiculous, Rachel" Ross said.

"Is it really? Then tell me, why all the way across the country? Why leave us? Your friends, your parents, your own son. You left us all behind just so you can go off and venture for a new life that we're barely a part of now when we've been a family for years….that's not just something you do unless you have a reason for it and Ross, simply not finding an apartment is not a good reason. Worst thing that could have happened to you is that you would have had to stay with Joey and Chandler, Monica and I or even at Phoebe's...you left because you were running away from something. Someone actually….that someone was Emily. Wasn't it?" Rachel asked.

Ross said nothing to this accusation, mostly because there was no way to refute it….he didn't think about it like that but it was true. He was in love with Emily Waltham.

"...I'm right, aren't I?" Rachel asked.

Ross looked down to the ground for a few moments before nodding his head. "Yeah….yeah you are"

After a few moments of silence, Rachel clapped her hands. "Well…..we have time before her flight leaves. Her flight shouldn't be for a few hours. Let's go down to the airport and stop her"

"What's the use?" Ross asked.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked, confused.

"She'd never take me back, not after all I did to her. From saying your name at our wedding to breaking up with her cold a few days ago after she came all this way, she probably doesn't want anything to do with me anymore" Ross said.

Rachel had to admit, that got a good laugh out of her. Ross looked up at her and looked at her oddly.

"What's so funny?" Ross asked.

"I'm sorry. I just find it so funny that after all these years, you still know nothing about relationships" Rachel said.

This didn't help in Ross' confusion. "Huh?"

"Ross…..that woman had been thinking about you constantly for months after your divorce….she canceled her wedding day so she could get back together with you….she traveled thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean just at the mere chance of being with you again even though she knew full and well you could at any point reject her on the spot. Ross...you don't just let a person you feel that strongly for go because of a speed bump in a relationship" Rachel said.

Ross rubbed his eyes for a moment as he thought strongly about this. He knew what he had to do….but there was just one thing that just ate at him.

"...What about you? What about….us?" Ross asked.

Rachel gave a deep sigh. "Ross….I will always, always be in love with you even until my dying days. When I first saw that video of Monica and I's prom night, that was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me and I suddenly felt feelings for you I have never felt for anyone else. Even so, I know that if I truly love you, I sooner or later have to let you go so you can be truly happy"

Ross gave a sad smile to her which she returned. He grabbed her face and pulled her in for a nice and deep kiss. A romantic kiss for sure but more of a friendly kiss than anything. After about a minute, they pulled apart.

"I'll always love you forever, Rachel Greene" Ross said.

"And I'll always love you, Ross Geller" Rachel said. With that, they gave each other a big hug and moments later, they parted again.

"Now come on! Time's wasting. We need to get to the Airport before she leaves" Rachel said. She started pulling him towards the door.

"Wait! We can't go like this. We smell and we're not dressed!" Ross said.

"You're right….alright, we'll just need to get dressed as quick as we can. So come on, we're going into the shower" Rachel said, pulling him towards the bathroom.

"Hold it. Together?" Ross asked, incredulously.

"Oh, it's not like it's anything you haven't seen before. Besides, we don't have time to take 2 different showers. Now man up and come on!" Rachel said, continuing her pulling of his arm.

Ross didn't argue with that logic as she pulled him to the bathroom for their double showers. Now this picture would be very exciting to some people but in this instance, it was pretty boring as their shower consisted solely of them washing their own bodies (Actually, that still may be pretty exciting to some people. But anyways, enough of the perversion and let's move on).

After their shower, they both got dressed. Rachel phoned Monica and told the entire group through speaker to meet them at the JFK airport in an hour. They were going to stop Emily from getting on her plane…..


	7. Chapter 7

The ride to the airport was pure hell for Ross. The traffic was just awful as he was driving his rental car through the streets. He must have cursed out about a dozen people while making his way to the airport which was uncharacteristic of him in these recent months. Of course, bad traffic was to be expected in New York City but today was just worse than normal. Then again, this was probably to be expected. Nothing ever turned out as planned for this group and there was always something in the way of them achieving their goal. It was almost like their entire lives were a TV show…..

When Ross and Rachel finally arrived to the airport, they parked by the airport terminal. They got out of the car and proceeded to run into the building. An airport worker ran up to them and said "Hold it! You can't park by the terminal!"

"You don't understand, this is an emergency. I have to talk to someone and their flight leaves soon" Ross pleaded with the worker.

"I'm sorry sir but if you don't move your car, I'll have no choice but to have it towed" The worker said.

Ross cringed at first but got an idea. "Can you park it for me?"

"Sir, we do not offer valet parking. I'm afraid you'll have to park it and come back" The worker said.

"Please, this is important. I need to tell someone I love them. I'm begging you here" Ross said.

The airport worker cringed. He was silently touched by the man's romantic gesture. Damn him for being an old school romantic.

"Well….alright. This isn't exactly ethical to do but I'll park it for you but be sure to not be long in returning" The worker said.

"Thank you. It won't take us any more than a half hour" Ross said.

With that, Ross and Rachel entered the airport where they saw Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe.

"What took you guys so long?" Chandler asked, exasperated and nervous.

"Traffic. Very bad traffic. Where's Emily?" Ross asked.

"The earliest flight to London doesn't leave for another 30 minutes. Thank god there was a delay because of a bad storm nearby but that just barely gives us enough time to get to her" Monica said.

"Good. Let's just get by screening and get to her as quick as possible!" Ross said.

The group ran towards the screening area that led to the airport gates.

* * *

_*Gate to London, England, 25 minutes later*_

Emily Waltham sat by the gate to her flight. It had been a dreadful week for her. First, she had to face yelling from her family about her canceling her wedding then she came to New York to reunite herself with her former husband and then when it felt like everything was going just swimmingly, his friends betray her trust and read out private information that she didn't even mean. Now she would have to go back to her home to be scolded by her parents, laughed at by her former fiancee, be seen as crazy person by her friends and probably be alone for all eternity.

She gave a sorrowful sigh to herself. The worst part about it was she was never going to see Ross again. She didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. That fact alone made this situation much more terrible than it already was. Though, she felt it was probably for the best after his reading of that diary. The look on his face as he read that was the face of a man that had his heart ripped out and crushed on the floor.

The airport speaker made the last call to London, England. She took one last look around. This may be the last time she would be in New York for a long time (Her uncle and cousin still lived here) so she took in the sights one last time. She realized the best sights were not in an airport but JFK International was a world-renowned airport and that accounted for something at least.

She moved her way to the gate to the airplane in a long line of other passengers. When she was close to getting to getting her ticket scanned by the gate agent, a voice rang out across the airport.

_"Wait!"_

Emily widened her eyes. She recognized that voice. The woman turned and saw Ross Geller running towards her. Her heart immediately skipped a beat as she just stood there, expressionless as the Paleontologist made his way through the line, apologizing to people as he moved his way up. Soon, the five other members of the group quickly moved into sight as well. Now she was confused as well as excited. Just what was going on?

When Ross finally reached Emily, he grabbed her hands and moved down on his knees.

"Emily...please don't go. Please. I lost you once, I don't want to lose you again" Ross said.

"Ross...I don't understand. What's going-" Emily said before Ross interrupted her.

"Emily Waltham, I love you….very much. There are no words to describe how I feel about you. Simply saying that I love you doesn't come close to it. You are the most perfect woman I have ever met in my life. I know I've done stupid things since we've been together, very stupid things but I will crawl to the end of the earth to fix all that I've done if it means being with you" Ross said.

The crowd around them awed. Even Ross' lady friends had to admit, even with their sort of mixed feelings about Emily, they were touched by the scene.

Monica turned to Chandler and gave him a little glare. "Why haven't you ever done that for me, Chandler?"

Chandler turned to his girlfriend and opened and closed his mouth as he blinked repeatedly. "I….uh…."

"We'll discuss it later" Monica said.

The man sighed. The things he would do for his best friend...

"Emily…..I….." Ross tried to say.

"Yes, Ross?" Emily asked as she listened to his passionate words.

"...I want to marry you. I want to be your husband. I want to raise a family with you. I want to grow old with you. I want to do everything with you" Ross said. He raised his eyebrows at himself at the last part of his speech.

He looked around and saw some people giggle and chuckle then looked back up at Emily who was trying so hard to maintain a serious look without smiling (She was failing miserably).

"That came off more creepy than it did romantic at the end, didn't it?" Ross asked.

Everyone around mutually agreed. He looked to his friends who gave each gave him a nod. The man cringed as he looked back to the woman he was kind of proposing too (but not really).

"It sounded romantic to me" Emily said with tears forming in her eyes. Ross gave Emily a warm smile.

"Emily…..I know this seems a bit rushed and I know we agreed to take our relationship slow but I don't feel any better about a relationship than ours…..so Emily Waltham, love of my life…..will you marry me...again?" Ross asked with a sheepish grin at the end of his proposal.

Everyone's eyes were on Emily who just sat there with that happy grin on her face. It was like all her dreams came true.

After shaking her head in disbelief of what was happening, she nodded vigorously. "Yes….yes, Ross Geller I will"

Ross got up from her knees and gave Emily a deep kiss on the lips which caused the crowd to cheer, including Ross' friends.

Rachel smiled at the scene. Although she was sad her love was being swept away from her, she was just glad that Ross was happy and for the first time ever, she was actually glad for Ross being in a relationship that didn't include her.

"You know, I was talking to Ross about this when Emily was first leaving New York. I knew this would happen, I just knew it" Monica said, excitedly to her friends.

Joey looked at Monica oddly.

"Mon, no offense, but you really need to put down the romance novels" He said which prompted the woman in question to swipe at his chest.

After their kiss ended, Ross and Emily just stared at each other for the longest time as the passengers continued going through the gate. When the line was getting shorter, Emily turned towards the gate and then turned back to Ross with a sort of looked that spelled out regret and a small itch of sadness.

Reading the face, Ross sort of got the message. "You still have to go, don't you?"

Emily gave a small nod. "I'm afraid so. I need to go home to see my family and friends again to make amends"

Ross nodded. "I understand"

"I'll be back as soon as possible, darling. I swear it" Emily said.

Ross gave a big smile. "So will I"

Emily and Ross shared one last long kiss before they parted. The Englishwoman went to the gate agent and presented her ticket. After it was scanned, she went inside the gate and the agent closed the door behind her.

Ross just stared at the door with a sort of bittersweet smile. As the minutes went by, the airplane began to take off and the man watched as the plane took altitude and eventually escaped his sight. He kept watching until his friends came over and gathered around them.

"You feeling alright, Ross?" Monica asked.

"...Yeah. Yeah I am" Ross said sincerely.

He looked around and saw the five people he loved so dearly. He opened his arms for a group hug which they accepted with no hesitation.

They stayed like that for a good few minutes. Their family was complete once more and Ross was getting married….again. However, for good this time.

After they parted, Ross smiled at everyone, particularly Rachel.

"You know, guys….I've been thinking" Ross said.

"About what?" Phoebe asked.

"Well…..while I do enjoy San Diego, It's not like home here...and I need to stop trying to run away from the life I was given" Ross said.

"Ross, what are you saying?" Rachel asked.

"...I've decided to move back to New York" Ross said.

When he made this announcement, the group cheered loudly as they gathered around their dear friend with another group hug. They squeezed him tight which caused him to start losing his breath.

"Uh….guys….air" Ross said, gasping every word.

The group suddenly parted and gave Ross some space. Joey and Chandler even straightened out some parts of his shirt that was ruffled from the 2 hugs.

"Thank you" Ross said.

"So, what made you decide this?" Monica asked, still excited about her brother moving back home.

"Well, I got a wake up call from a dear friend of mine that I belonged here with my family….with all of you" Ross said, eyeing Rachel who smiled at him.

"Well whoever that someone is, we owe him the biggest of thank yous" Chandler said with a big smile.

Ross had to chuckle at his friend's blissful ignorance.

"What's so funny?" Chandler asked.

"Hm? Oh nothing, don't mind me. I just remembered a funny joke. Not important" Ross said, coming up with a swift lie.

Chandler shrugged. He guessed it wasn't worth getting into.

"So….I have the rest of the day to myself before I have to go back to California to sort out my affairs. What do you guys suggest we do for the rest of the day?" Ross asked.

"Well, let's see…" Chandler said, doing a mock thinking face with his finger on his chin.

"We have a whole day with our favorite geek in the whole world. What on earth should we do?" Joey asked in a fake confused voice.

"Go to my favorite dinosaur exhibit?" Ross asked.

Everyone laughed at that which caused Ross to roll his eyes. That'll be the day when they actually suggest they do something that related to his livelihood.

"No, we're gonna party, man. We're going to celebrate. You're moving back!" Joey said.

"This calls for a party. I'm calling everyone from Carol and Susan to Mom and Dad" Monica said.

"Ooh! I'll write a new song and sing it tonight for everyone in celebration of your homecoming" Phoebe said.

"Thank you, Phoebe. I'm looking forward to it" Ross said. He was actually sincere about that, touched that one of his friends would do that for him...although he still didn't think Phoebe's songs would go on to be big hits.

"Oh and Ross…...we're really sorry about what we did to you and Emily this week. It was entirely uncalled for and we were being unreasonable jerks. Whatever you feel is right, we'll support it 100%" Chandler said.

"Yeah. We're very sorry, man. Emily's a good woman" Joey said.

"And I'll be proud to call her my sister-in-law" Monica said.

Ross smiled. "It's alright and thank you….but I think you need to say that to her more than anything when she comes back"

The A-S-S-H-O-L-E-S nodded. Their group had officially been disbanded (Monica and Chandler were also very grateful they didn't have to hear that acronym again) with their last official act being apologizing to Emily.

"Well….I need to return my rental car so I'll meet you all back at Monica's apartment...thank you guys again for being there for me. What I ever did to deserve to be friends with all of you is beyond me" Ross said.

"You don't need to thank us, Ross. Like you said...we're a family" Rachel said.

"Yeah...we sure are. Anyways, I gotta get going. See you guys later" Ross said with a warm and gentle smile on his face.

As he turned and started to walk away, Chandler nudged Monica. She looked at him and he gave her that look that just screamed that they needed to tell Ross something important. The woman just shook her head no which caused Chandler to get frustrated with her.

After a few moments of hesitation and silent bickering, Chandler turned to Ross and shouted "Monica and I are dating!"

Ross turned. His happy expression turned into that of a shocked one.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked.


	8. Chapter 8

_*8 months after the incident at the airport*_

After saying his goodbyes to his friends and son, Ross got on a plane and went back to San Diego. However, he would be back sooner than his friends might have thought because this time, he was on a mission to get back as quickly as possible.

Ross Geller had been a very busy man the past few months. Everything from moving to quitting his job(s) to even planning a wedding, he had very little time on his hand.

When he had first announced his resignation to both the Museum and the University, it wasn't exactly hard to see that his employers were disappointed. He had been a very valuable asset to them over the past few months but they understood why he needed to quit and move on with his life. The Chancellor of the University of San Diego at the time had claimed that if Ross was interested, he knew the Chancellor of New York University in well, New York. They were looking for a Paleontology professor and he felt like he was a perfect fit for the job with the amount of good student evaluations Ross received. He gratefully accepted the Chancellor's offer and the Chancellor said that a University official would likely be in touch with him.

As for his wedding planning, he had spoken to Emily over the phone almost every night in the 3 months of his moving from California back to New York. They were going to get married at the New York Botanical Garden. However, despite what one might think, choosing a destination to get married was not the hardest thing for them to do. It was actually concerning the seating arrangement. Not that they were worried about the number of chairs available for the wedding itself, it was because there were certain people that didn't exactly 'hit it off' as people would say at their last wedding.

"We need to seat our parents as far away from each other as possible" Ross had told Emily over the phone.

"Agreed" Emily had said.

Speaking of which, both Ross' and Emily's parents had mixed reactions to the news. Of course, Emily's parents were still angry at Ross for the last wedding but as soon as they had heard of his financial well being, their thoughts had eased about the Paleontologist. It must be true what they say: Money does talk (At least to the Walthams). Ross' parents were also a bit skeptical over quitting 2 wonderful jobs and marrying a woman whom they still didn't have the best feelings for but they felt that if their son was happy with this, they were happy.

As said before, he moved back 3 months after he left. It wasn't as long and vigorous a process as moving usually was. As Ross had lived in a nice beach house, they were many wealthy people starting out in San Diego who took a gander at it and sold it relatively quick. He also had money to get a moving company to move any possession he had out of the house. When everything was said and done, he was in and out of San Diego as quick as he possibly could.

Living arrangements in New York for both Ross were easy to find as well. Chandler and Joey had called the landlord for the complex of the Studio Apartment that Ross had applied for months ago and told them that everything they said about Ross Geller was pretty much a lie and they only said those things because they felt bad about trying to get him out of their apartment as quickly as possible. After Ross had spoken and met with landlords, they were eager to have him at their complexes. At the end of the day, Ross had chosen to live at Ugly Naked Guy's apartment after finding out he was moving and moving with him. It was a shame he was moving. He and the group had wonderful times spying, er….observing his living habits for several years but all good things must come to an end, he guessed.

After Ross had officially moved back to New York, he was contacted by New York University and was offered a full time job as a Professor in the Paleontology Department. He accepted the job. It wasn't as much money as he was making in San Diego but it didn't really matter to him. There were many things more valuable than money including his friends, child and a lovely fiancee.

Speaking of lovely fiancee's, Emily had come back to New York about 2 weeks after Ross had moved back. When Ross and Emily met in the airport, the group had to forcibly remove them from their lips after a substantial amount of time had passed. They must have been breathing through their noses with how long they were kissing and not taking a breath in between. Emily had moved into Ross' apartment as they had originally planned the last time they were getting married. During the months after, she had applied for a worker visa so she could start looking for a job in New York and would soon apply for citizenship afterwards.

The group (At least, the group that conspired against her) had also officially apologized to Emily, saying that they were trying to do what was best for their friend and because of that, they lost sight of what was right and wrong. Emily had accepted their apology, saying she understood why they did it but wished they'd at least had given her a chance.

"I would never do anything like that to anyone I truly loved. I know I wasn't exactly deserving of your trust at the time but the least you could have given me is the benefit of the doubt. I would have done the same for any of you" Emily had said.

The last thing that Ross had addressed during the last few months is the fact that Monica and Chandler had been seeing each other for months, over a year really since Ross' first wedding with Emily in London. He wasn't pleased by this revelation at first. After all, Chandler? He had a history of not having very long relationships. Hell, his longest relationship before Monica was with Kathy and that didn't exactly end well for anyone. Monica didn't exactly have the most lasting and stable relationships either. Hell, she slept with a minor one time (Without her knowing of course but still…). Over time though, he got more used to the idea of his best friend being his sort of brother-in-law and decided that they would make a good couple...perhaps even a good married couple.

That brings us to the big wedding day itself. It was today, actually. As said earlier, it was held at the New York Botanical Garden. The sight was quite extraordinary especially for first time wedding goers. Rows of white chairs filled the outside of the garden, all in front of a beautiful white altar decorated with lovely roses of every color they came in. The background consisted of pine trees that reached the sky and a sky as clear and as blue as the ocean.

Ross stood at the altar by the Minister. Chandler and Joey both served as his best man as they did before. Monica and Phoebe both served as bridesmaids and surprisingly enough, despite rumors of Monica serving this position or even one of Emily's friends from home, Rachel Green served as the Maid of Honor. The woman in question had to admit, she was surprised by the offer given by a woman she once detested but she gracefully accepted. When asked why Emily offered her this wonderful honor, Emily simply replied "Because I trust you. I also want to be your friend"

Ben came down the aisle with Carol Willick holding his hand. The crowd awed at the sight as the boy approached the altar with the wedding rings in his hand. Ross picked Ben up gave him a big hug.

When he put Ben down, he gave his ex-wife a kiss on the cheek which she returned. They also shared a big hug.

"Take care of yourself...and look after Emily. She's a wonderful lady" Carol said.

"Thank you, Carol. You also take a good look after Susan. She annoys me at times but….she's family….and I love her. And you" Ross said.

"We love you too, Ross. Come over for dinner when you get back from your honeymoon and that's not a request either. You're coming for dinner" Carol said.

Ross gave a little chuckle. "Yes ma'am"

After they parted, Carol went to her seat next to her wife, Susan.

The Orchestra seated nearby started to play "Here comes the bride" and down the aisle came down Emily with her father holding her arm. She looked just beautiful. She wore a sleeveless, low cut gown that reached the floor. When she reached the altar, she released her father's arm and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Her father gave Ross an expressionless side glance that Ross took as "Don't mess it up this time". Ross just gave him a smile as he took his bride's arm in his. They approached the altar.

The minister cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the eyes of God to witness holy matrimony between Ross Eustace Geller and Emily Anne Waltham which is an honorable

estate, that is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently and soberly. Into this estate these two persons present come now to be joined. If anyone can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace" The Minister declared.

While no one said nothing, some eyes (Particularly those who attended the first wedding of the bride and groom) were on the Maid of Honor who just stood and said nothing. After a short while, the woman noticed people staring at her and being the reasonably mature person she was, she just stuck her tongue out at them.

"Very well. May the ring bearer please present the rings?" The Minister asked.

Chandler walked Ben up to the Minister and he presented the two rings and the crowd awed again. The Minister smiled as he took the rings from the almost 5 year old boy. He gave one of each to Emily and to Ross.

"Ross Geller, do you take Emily Waltham to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" The Minister said.

"I do" Ross said, placing his ring on Emily's finger

"And do you Emily Waltham take Ross Geller to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" The Minister asked.

"I do" Emily said, placing her ring on Ross' finger.

The Minister gave a smile. "Then by the power vested in me by the State of New York and God Almighty, I pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may now kiss the bride"

Ross and Emily grabbed each other in a loving embrace and kissed each other with great passion. The audience cheered and stood up for the happy couple. They both walked down the aisle with smiles on their faces as the Orchestra played "Wedding March"

"There goes our boy" Joey said.

"They grow up so fast" Chandler said, wiping a little tear he had from his face.

Phoebe and Monica turned to Rachel, who had a small smile on her face. Not exactly the smile you would see at a wedding but a smile nonetheless. They didn't exactly know how to react to that but decided to just let this go until later.

Joey and Chandler looked at each other with a big grin on their faces. They knew what time it was: The Reception, baby!

* * *

_  
*30 minutes later, the reception*  
_  
As the newly wedded Husband and Wife cut their wedding cake at the reception hall in the Botanical Garden, the two man-children known as Joseph Tribbiani and Chandler Bing were making good use of the alcoholic beverages made available to them. The 2 women friends of Ross who currently weren't seeing anyone were sizing up potential partners while Monica was trying to get her 'man' to cut it down.

As the reception went on, Ross eventually faced Emily's father and stepmother.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Waltham" Ross said, trying his hardest not to make this any more awkward than it already was.

"Hello, my boy. I'm sure you're glad you didn't have to remember any names for this little gathering, aren't you?" Emily's father asked.

Ross gave a small but annoyed smile. "Well, I'm just hoping that by the time we're your age, Mr. Waltham, that we'll have as good a relationship as you and your lovely wife"

Mr. Waltham looked to his wife who was looking Ross up and down like a fine piece of meat. He nudged her which caused her to move out of her trance.

"Oh uh, yes. We're quite glad everything worked out between the two of you, Ross. You're a very fine young man….very fine" She said.

Mr. Waltham rolled his eyes and dragged her away, leaving Ross smiling to himself, both satisfied and disturbed. He never really knew how to explain to Emily that her stepmother was sexually attracted to him but decided that now was not the best time to discuss such matters.

Soon later, he met up with his parents who both gave him a hug.

"We're very proud of you, son" Jack said, holding Judy's waist.

"Thank you, Dad" Ross said.

"Sweetheart, are you sure you don't want us to pay for half the wedding?" Judy asked.

"NO! Absolutely not. You remember last year, right?" Ross asked.

"Well, I'm not paying for that Son of a bitch's house renovation so I'm much more willing to" Jack said, looking over to Mr. Waltham who was dancing with Emily.

Ross narrowed his eyes. "Alright…..you have $10,000?"

Jack's eyes widened and his mouth gaped like a trout. "...You know something, you're right. We don't a repeat of last year so I'll just let you go ahead and pay for it. You know, like the grown man you are"

Ross smiled and nodded. After hugging his father, he and Judy went off for the traditional mother and groom wedding dance.

"So….This is it, huh?" Judy asked.

"Yes, I'm thinking so. No more weddings for this guy" Ross said.

Judy gave a smile as she rested her head on his shoulder. Ross sensed a hint of sadness in her posture so he rubbed her back up and down.

"You don't have to worry mom. I'll always be your little boy….and that pains me to say as a 31 year old man" Ross said.

"Don't remind me of your age, sweetie. It'll only remind me of mine" Judy said.

"Oh, knock it off, mom. You look like you could be a model" Ross said playfully.

Judy smacked his side arm. "Knock it off with that…..just remember that we'll always be here for you no matter what happens"

"Thanks, Mom" Ross said, kissing his mother's cheek.

Later, an announcer came up and stated that it was time for the bride and groom to have their first official dance as husband and wife.

Ross and Emily moved to the center of the room and the band started to play "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca.

The light dimmed and the room focused solely on the couple. Nearby, Rachel Green and Monica Geller were standing nearby the food table.

Monica looked over to Rachel and saw that she had a genuine smile on her face.

"So…...how are you?" Monica asked.

"I'm fine…..I'm glad Ross is happy" Rachel said.

"Really? You're not just saying that? You're not going to do one of those Rachel 'break Ross up' schemes again?" Monica asked.

Rachel gave a little giggle. "No…..that part of my life is over. All I'm going to focus on with Ross is being the best friend I can be to him"

Monica smiled. "I'm glad…...I'll always be here for you, girl"

"Thanks….same here" Rachel said.

The two friends chased each other and gave each other a hug.

* * *

_  
*10 minutes later*  
_  
It was getting around that time the bride and groom leave for their honeymoon suite.

Outside, while Ross was waiting out the limo, Emily was holding a bouquet and had her back faced toward a group of women consisting of Ross' woman friends and Emily's woman friends as well. She threw it over her head and the women fought tooth and nail to be the first one to catch the flowers but they only landed in one woman's arms. Those arms belonged to Monica Geller.

Everyone cheered. Monica turned to Chandler standing nearby. They both smiled at each other.

The infamous playboy (Or at least that's what Chandler liked to think of himself) thought it probably was time to get settled down for a while, try this whole marriage thing out. After all, his best friends seemed to like. He's done it 3 times.

Joey managed to find Emily's bridesmaid from the last wedding and….let's just say they were going to have swollen lips after their current activities.

As for Phoebe, she was trying out a new song she wrote for a group of people. She actually brought her guitar which the audience liked (Or at least that's what they told her).

Finally, Rachel just looked and watched as Ross and Emily finally entered the limo. They gave one last wave before closing the door. The Chauffeur drove them off, a classic 'Just Married' sign behind the limo. Rachel kissed her hands and blew a soft kiss to the limo driving away. That was it. Ross Geller was out of her love life. Probably for good.

She felt it was for the best. Ross was finally truly happy for the time in a long time. However, now she was single. Maybe for a long time. As she was thinking this, a large looking man came up to her.

"Hello, I couldn't help but notice you here by yourself and I happen to be the same way. Would you mind sharing a drink?" He asked. He had an English accent.

Rachel smiled. "Oh, sure. What's your name?"

"Liam. I used to date Emily before your friend swept her off her feet. Man's a maniac in rugby. Nearly broke my knees" The man said.

"Really? Ross Geller playing rugby? I couldn't imagine that" Rachel said.

"Yeah, I couldn't either but near the end of the game, some beast awoke in him I guess. Taught me never to cross him again, especially on the field" Liam said.

"Wow. I never noticed that about him when I went out with Ross" Rachel said.

"Oh, you went out with him?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, I did. For almost a year….I'm actually kind of why their first wedding didn't work out" Rachel said with a sort of nervous grin.

"Oh, so you're the famous Rachel" Liam said.

"Yeah, I guess I am. So I know a place where we can get a drink" Rachel said.

"That sounds nice" Liam said. He hooked his arms around her and they started walking to the place Rachel had in mind (Central Perk. Where else?). She would always love Ross but it was time for her to move on. As the old saying goes: Plenty of fish in the sea.

* * *

_  
*Honeymoon suite*  
_  
As Ross and Emily approached the entrance, Ross suddenly swooped Emily up, bridal style.

"Ross! Put me down!" Emily said, laughing. Ross ignored her pleas as he opened the door.

Inside, the room was lit entirely by candlelight. There was a table with a bucket of ice topped with a bottle of champagne. There was also a Jacuzzi in the corner of the room.

"Very nice" Emily said.

"Yeah, the one last year wasn't as nice as this" Ross said.

"It wasn't? I mean, I never really got to see it because well…" Emily said, trailing off.

"Let's not get into it, Mrs. Geller" Ross said, burying his face in Emily's neck which caused her to moan.

"Emily Geller….I like it" Emily said, smiling as her husband nibbled at her neck.

"Well, I have a feeling you'll like what I have planned for both of us even more" Ross said with a bit of a suggestive smile.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it" Emily grinned.

It had taken over a year but Ross Geller was finally going to get a proper wedding night with his bride and this time, this marriage was going to last until death parted them…..that is if Emily wasn't secretly a lesbian and found out after 6-7 years of marriage but Ross wasn't counting on that.

Ross had taken Emily to the bedroom where clothes unraveled and love was made between the two of them.

2 hours after they began, they covered themselves up under the blankets. Emily laid her head down on Ross' chest while he stroked her hair.

As he looked down, he smiled. He was married again….actually married to another human being whom he'd planned on spending the rest of his life with. To top it all off, this was someone he had divorced just a year ago. Ross looked up at the ceiling.

_"God….up to this point, I've felt like you've been playing me for a fool….but now, I feel like a completed man. Thank you for giving me a second chance at love"_ Ross thought.

He bent down his head and gave Emily a gentle kiss on the head and then closed his eyes. After all, tomorrow was a big day for the both of them. They were going on their honeymoon. The both of them this time.

Soon after, he fell asleep, dreaming away at the life he was going to have with this beautiful woman at his side.

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank FriendsEnthusiast from Fanfiction.net and their story Second Chances for giving me a bit of inspiration in writing this story. The story is similar to this but will have different story lines. Check it out when you have the chance. It’s a very nice story. Funny, has drama, romance, all that good stuff. Stay tuned for the next chapter.


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